The Dark Times - Book 1- Rise of the Empire
by Tscorpio1701
Summary: It is a dark time in the galaxy's The Sith now rule the galaxy and the Jedi are almost extinct with only a small number of survivors remaining and a few who still believe in the principles of the Republic.
1. The Death of Liberty

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 1: Death of Liberty.**

The Clone Wars were almost over. The death of both Count Dooku and General Grievous seemed to signal that the end of the war was nearing. The Jedi led clone armies were now winning on all fronts and the droid armies were being decimated. However the fate could sometimes throw some very twisted curveballs. At the very eve of victory the Jedi Order was betrayed by both the Chancellor, aka Darth Sidious, and the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker. The Chancellor issued Order 66, branding every Jedi an enemy of the Republic, while he sent his new apprentice Anakin Skywalker, now known as Darth Vader, to attack a Jedi Temple with his personal Legion, the 501st killing almost every Jedi inside with only a small number of them making it out.

As Anakin continued to kill Jedi he became more and more steeped in the dark side, descending further and further into darkness that he could no longer be considered the good man that was Anakin Skywalker, he was now through and through Darth Vader, corrupted by an evil man and then later with the death of his wife, almost impossible to redeem.

Caught up in the middle of all this was a young Captain called Jack Hawks, the commanding officer of the Venator class Star Destroyer _Challenger_. He had served in the Corellian Defence Forces and then got transferred to the Republic Navy two months into the war. In his time as a career military officer he had gained a reputation as an excellent ship handler, a skilled tactician and strategist, and also a little bit of a ladies' man, though he had no comment to that remark.

The other thing about him was that he didn't entirely trust clones, he respected their ability as soldiers, but he had prior experience with the template of the clones, the Bounty Hunter Jango Fett. His crew was for the most part made up of non-clones, mostly humans from Corellia with a small mixture of Alderaanian and Chandrilan volunteer officers from their respective defence forces, while the marines and fighter pilots were for the most part clones.

His ship was on its way from an extended patrol of the Inner Rim when it was called to rendezvous at Felucia to help in the planet's liberation. They had just dropped out of Hyperspace and Captain Hawks was looking out the viewports when his executive officer, Commander Mirialia Hess, came up with a data pad for him. She was a fellow Corellian so she shared almost the same coloured hair as he did, while his was dark brown hers was a couple of shades lighter and was tied back into a tight pony tail, while the captain wore his short.

"Priority message from GAR HQ sir," she said as she handed it to him.

Jack read the message then had to read it again to make sure he hadn't misread it.

"Is this confirmed?"

"Yes sir, it came straight from the Chancellor's office on a secure channel, and sir the message used a Separatist encryption sequence."

The Commodore's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he reread the message again.

"_Execute Order 66,"_ it said and below it was a description of the order.

_**Order 66**__: In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established._

"Have Commander Max come up here," he ordered.

The xo merely nodded her head then got on the ship's intercom calling Commander Max to the Command Bridge. Minutes later he arrived on the bridge clad in full ARC Trooper armour, he had been preparing his troops to enter combat, and he always wore his full armour while on duty.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes Commander," replied the Captain lightly. "What is your opinion of Order 66?"

"I believe that all lawful orders should be followed to the letter, sir!"

"Even one that calls for the killing of thousands of innocent people, because that is what this order is, an execution order for every Jedi, branding every one of them a traitor to the Republic, when you know that they have absolutely no interest in controlling the government."

"Unfortunately sir it's not up to me, if I could choose not to kill any Jedi I come across I would, but an order is an order and what kind of soldier would I be if I cannot follow orders."

Things became tense on the bridge as a number of crewmen started loosening their blaster holsters for quick easy draws.

"Very well Commander, return to your men," said Captain Hawks with regret in his voice. Commander Max gave a quick salute and turned sharply around and headed off the bridge towards the main launch bay, with a lot of thinking to do on the way down.

"You think you got through to him, sir?" Commander Hess asked.

"I hope so, otherwise we're all dead," responded Captain Hawks as he returned to looking out at the view of Felucia.

* * *

On the planet Jedi Master Aayla Secura was feeling the burns of several blaster inflicted wounds on her back quickly healing as she tapped into the living force that was in abundance on this planet, concentrated on healing her wounds with all her might while feeling the death screams of thousands and thousands of Jedi, including a fellow Jedi Knight whom had just been killed by one of her own AT-TEs on a different battle front on the planet. She came out of her self induced healing trance and slowly woke up, surprised that she was not face down on the ground, but looking up from the flat of her back with her arms crossed and clutching her lightsabre in her hands.

She weakly crawled up on her hands and knees and looked over the former campsite of her troops. She had hoped that the turning of her troops against her was just part of a bad dream, but the burns on her back testified to the fact that she had been shot by her own troopers. She quickly searched through the ruins of the camp and found nothing left but scraps and most surprisingly her Eta 2 Actis Starfighter, still fully fuelled up, though the Astromech that she usually just left in there was gone, so she would have to do all the work. She could hear the thunder of battle not too far away so the struggle for Felucia was still ongoing.

She gingerly got into her fighter and powered up, lifting off on its repulsors then fired the main engines, powering out of the atmosphere and into space. She was immediately buzzed by a small group of four V-wings that were instantly on her tail. A Jedi Starfighter was a very distinctive craft, and Aayla's was very distinctive with its blue and silver custom paint job, and quite easily spotted. She quickly took evasive action, corkscrewing around the V-wings and came up behind them into the perfect position, and cut loose with her laser cannons, letting off short controlled bursts at her targets, blowing them all away in a matter of seconds. Clones may be good pilots, but they lack the skills of a Jedi that only a true ace of aces among those that are not Force sensitive could match, and these clones were far short of that.

She soon spotted the set of Hyperdrive Rings for her fighter and docked with it and inputted the coordinates for a short Hyperspace jump to a nearby system where she knew there were no Separatist or Republic forces, a neutral system, but just before she jumped another quartet of V-wings came in from behind her and opened fire at long range, very few of their shots landed, but two hit the rings as she made the jump into hyperspace and vanished from all sensors.

* * *

Aboard the _Challenger_ Jack was going over the various reports on the ground campaign on Felucia, the 327th Sky Corp was really giving the droid armies hell and had managed to capture the planet's water treatment facilities before the droids managed to destroy them. He was looking at a general overview of the disposition of the Republic's forces on the ground in the CIC when Commander Hess brought him another data pad.

"We just received this report from one of our sister ships, the _Black Crescent_. They say that one of their CAP patrols spotted and intercepted a Jedi Starfighter that had taken off from the planet. The patrol was destroyed sir."

Jack studied the data pad with a critical eye, noticing how short the dogfight really was.

"Walk with me Commander," he said and led her towards the CIC turbolift.

"Do we know who was flying that Starfighter?"

"Yes sir, it's in the report, Master Aayla Secura, or at least someone in her fighter and flew just as well as her."

"Well, that's at least one Jedi survivor the Chancellor would have us hunt down," he said dejectedly, not looking forward to the day he may have to give the order to kill her or any other Jedi.

Jack took another look at the report.

"Were the pilots that went after her rookies or something?" he asked, not really believing that a single fighter could win against four V-wing interceptors piloted by experienced combat veterans.

"No sir, but I did take a look into General Secura's file and she is an excellent pilot, not in Skywalker's league, but certainly better than any Clone pilot, especially if she used the Force to heighten her reflexes."

Jack nodded at that. While Clones were excellent pilots they just weren't in the same league as a Jedi when it came to piloting a fighter in combat.

"The _Black Crescent's_ report also said that another CAP flight, one of ours, managed to intercept her just before she jumped to light speed. They also plotted every possible destination along her last known trajectory, and taking into account of everything in range of that ship of hers, it spat out dozens of possibilities, like trying to find a needle in an astronomically large haystack." She showed him the possible destinations on a data pad.

"That's a lot of space to search," Captain Hawks noted.

"But not impossible sir, but my guess is she would probably head for here," said Commander Hess, pointing to a star system not too far away.

"Why that one Commander?" he asked.

"Because it's a neutral system and has a fully equipped space port more than capable of servicing her fighter's hyperdrive rings, also I took a closer look at our fighters combat records and it seems that one or more of them managed to get in a few lucky shots at long range, impacting one of the motivators and one of the fuel tanks," she said, pointing out the damage on the data pad that now showed a picture of Master Secura's fighter with hyperdrive rings, pointing to a number of red dots that signified a hit.

"She wouldn't be able to get very far in a damaged fighter like that and right now she's trying to avoid both Republic and Separatist forces."

"Please tell me you didn't make a full report to Sector Command?" the Captain asked.

"No sir, I didn't, however I can't prevent anyone else from drawing the same conclusions as I did if they find this info," said apologetically.

"Well let's just hope the _Blood Crescent's_ captain doesn't have people as smart you, and hopefully she'll be able to evade capture."

The Turbolift doors opened on the habitation deck where the crew berthing were located, including Commander Hess's and the Captain's quarters. The Captain followed her to her quarters, since it was on the way to his anyway.

"Thank you for escorting me Captain," she said a little nervously.

"Any time Commander," he said reassuringly, the Commander had been under a lot of stress today and was a little scared of what the future would hold now that the Jedi were gone, he himself felt a little trepidation at the thought of a galaxy without any Jedi. He continued on to his own quarters to collapse into his own rack, today had been a long day and he was more than ready for a little shut eye.

* * *

The next day started out as any other day for the Captain. He woke up, got into his refresher unit and washed and dried himself, then got his uniform on, then headed towards the Captain's Mess where only the captain and a small number of officers were allowed and today he was playing host to almost his entire senior staff, most notably his Executive officer Commander Mirialia Hess, Chief Engineer Commander Rikard Ganto, Chief Medical Officer Doctor Victor Magellan and Clone Commander Max.

Things were tense this morning as just about everyone felt a little leery of the Clone that commanded the ship's marine contingent and could probably take the ship with little difficulty if he wanted to. Commander Max took it in stride, knowing that at least from this crew he and his brothers wouldn't be getting a pat on the back for their role in Order 66.

From a side door a young yeoman came in and whispered something in Commander Hess's ear. She nodded and ordered the young man to turn on the main monitor, which normally just showed an artist's impression of the _Challenger_. It was now depicting a speech that was being made by the Chancellor in the Senate.

"_The Jedi, and some within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader… The Jedi hoped to unleash their destructive power against the Republic by assassinating the head of government and usurping control of the clone army. But the aims of would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds… The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated. Any collaborators will suffer the same fate."_

A shiver passed down everybody's spine, knowing that the Jedi Order was now considered enemies of the Republic.

"_These have been trying times, but we have passed the test. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger. The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning."_

"Is the crew watching this?" Jack asked Commander Hess.

"Yes sir, the entire galaxy with a connection to the Holonet is watching this," she answered, fear clearly tinged her voice.

"_In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years, an Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, ruled by a new constitution."_

Jack watched the reactions of all his officers, however he concentrated most of his attention on Commander Max whom commanded the ship's Clone marines and fighter pilots, and could most likely take the ship with very little effort and turn them in as traitors, but Max's face was an unreadable mask, not a single emotion could be read as he listened to the Chancellor's speech.

"_By bringing the entire galaxy under one law, one language, and the enlightened guidance of one individual, the corruption that plagued the Republic in its later years will never take root. Regional governors will eliminate the bureaucracy that allowed the Separatist movement to grow unchecked. A strong and growing military will ensure the rule of law… Under the Empire's New Order, our most cherished beliefs will be safeguarded. We will defend our ideals by force of arms. We will give no ground to our enemies and will stand together against attacks from within or without. Let the enemies of the Empire take heed: Those who challenge Imperial resolve will be destroyed."_

The Senate went wild, cheering their new Emperor, not knowing that they were signalling the end of democracy.

"Watch Commander, and see the end of liberty," Jack said to his xo in sadness. He ordered the monitor turned off and regarded his senior officers.

"Now you see what has happened, we all see what has been happening in the last day. The clones have turned on the Jedi because of one order, Order 66. An order that could only be issued by the Chancellor himself and that calls for the head of every Jedi in the order, and they followed it without question, without solid proof of their treachery, just on the word of a single man and his cohorts. The Chancellor has now made himself Emperor of the entire galaxy and destroyed the very group that protected it. Max, as the senior clone officer in the room I want to hear your opinion on all of this."

Jack could see the many gears turning in the clone's head, having to really think over his beliefs before he answered.

"Sir, orders are to be obeyed as long as they are legal and right. To question those orders, especially an Executive Order is tantamount to treason," said Max in response.

"Commander, how do you know that Order 66 is still valid now that the Republic is no more?"

"I don't understand."

"Well you were created to protect the Republic from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Now that the Republic has been reorganized into the Galactic Empire, it is no longer the Republic that you served and protected these last three years, is it?"

Many emotions went through Max's mind as he thought about what he was now faced with. He and his brothers had been used, and now the Republic that he had sworn to protect was no more, a huge waste of life just to see a man that he had respected and admired turn his beloved Republic into an Empire where freedom was suppressed.

"You realise, sir, that if any of my brothers outside of my command heard you say such things you and your officers would have been shot on sight as traitors?" Commander Max humorously asked.

"The thought did cross my mind," Captain Hawks replied smartly.

Captain Hawks saw in Commander Max's eyes that he was no longer loyal to the Chancellor, now Emperor Palpatine.

"I can almost guarantee that every clone onboard will follow your lead, sir," said Max confidently. "However there may be some that will follow Palpatine no matter what, so I have to talk to my brothers, and tell my immediate subordinates to find out if any would betray us to the Empire."

Jack merely nodded, and Max rose up from his chair and saluted, exiting the captain's mess with all eyes upon him as he left. Jack took another look around his assembled superior officers, all having the same question written all over their faces.

"Captain, how did this happen, what did we do wrong?" Commander Hess asked.

"I don't know, Commander, but what I do know is what's going to happen to the Jedi. They'll all be hunted down and killed, and I'm not just talking about the knights and the masters, not even the younglings will be exempt from this order," said the captain as he cast his eyes down onto the table, everyone in the mess couldn't bear to look at each other right then.

"So what do we do now?" Chief Engineer Ganto asked.

"For now we keep a low profile and keep our opinions to ourselves, there'll probably be a lot of people like us that see things the way we do, but there are many more that has bought the party line about the Jedi orchestrating the entire Clone Wars," said Jack in warning.

After the impromptu meeting they went back on duty, quietly talking to the various department heads, getting a feel for the crew's reaction to the shift the galaxy has experienced. Hours later they received new orders, to head for Coruscant where the Captain would be getting a briefing by the new Emperor himself. Jack hadn't met Palpatine before and now this would be his chance to get a measure of the man. The _Challenger_ quickly broke orbit and jumped to light speed. On the way they picked up a beacon from a nearby star system, a Jedi distress beacon.

* * *

As they closed in on the signal Captain Hawks appeared on the bridge.

"Are we close?" he asked.

"We're seconds' away sir," reported Commander Hess, and seconds later the _Challenger_ decelerated from hyperspeed and straight into the outer reaches of the system, quickly finding the source of the distress beacon.

"Reading as a Jedi Interceptor, its General Secura's fighter," she said surprised. "There is a lot of carbon scoring in the hull and her hyperdrive rings have been practically destroyed. She has definitely been in a fight."

"Bring it into the main fighter bay and have a medical team standing by," the Captain ordered.

An invisible beam of energy latched onto the small Jedi Interceptor and pulled it into the main fighter bay, opening the smaller door and switching tractor beam emitters for the final stages of landing.

* * *

In the Interceptor Jedi Master Aayla Secura had been waiting for death for several hours now. She had managed to get to the neutral star system, but she got jumped by a squadron of ARC 170s that had been waiting for her. She managed to destroy all of them, but her fighter was finished, the last few shots from her laser cannons that destroyed her final attacker had drained the last of her fighter's energy, her hyperdrive rings had been destroyed and she was completely out of fuel.

She put herself into a deep meditative state, knowing that her heart beat would slow to a crawl and stretch out her oxygen supply for as long as possible. She believed that she was going to die, and had accepted that as a fact of life, all living things die; it's just the timing and the circumstances that are unknown. She comforted herself with the thought that she was going to see all those that had died this day, but the Force it seems had a very different destiny for her.

She felt the light tug of the tractor beam locking onto her ship, but her mind was fogged by the lack of oxygen and the loss of blood she had suffered from her recently reopened wounds, rendering her unable to fully comprehend what was happening to her until she saw the gaping maw of a huge Venator class Attack Cruiser's fighter bay. Adrenaline surged through her veins, preparing for a fight, but found that blood loss and oxygen deprivation combined to make her body extremely sluggish.

"_They found me, by the Force they found me and now they intend to finish the job,"_ she thought sluggishly to herself as she unclipped her lightsabre from her belt and gripped it tightly in her hands, though she felt that she didn't have the strength to fight off everybody on the ship she did have the strength to give them a good fight.

Her fighter was gently guided in by the ship's tractor beam crews, and then lowered down onto the deck of the hangar bay, where a medical team was standing by. With great haste the ground crew moved in and secured the fighter, checking over all of its vital systems and locking down any fuel or hydraulic leaks, then popped the cockpit hatch open. Suddenly, with a snap hiss, a lightsabre sprang to life under the chin of one of the technicians that had just popped open the hatch of her fighter.

"What ship is this?" she asked, the steel in her voice told the tech that this woman was not to be trifle with.

"You're aboard the _Challenger_, Master Jedi, we just rescued you..." At those words she raised her lightsabre a little bit higher under his chin, not enough to burn flesh, but enough to start singeing the short growth of beard under his chin.

"The Republic just betrayed me and every Jedi in the Order; I felt the death screams of all of them through the Force, and now silenced." Her strength started to waver. "If you are here to kill me just do it." She then promptly collapsed back into her seat and deactivated her lightsabre, turning it off was the last thing she consciously did before the sweet embrace of unconsciousness claimed her.

The tech took the weapon from her as the medical team got her out of her fighter and took a good long look at it, a simple and beautifully crafted weapon it shone in the light from the overhead lights. As the medics got her on a stretcher he put the weapon on it with her before she was rushed off to the sickbay then he got back to checking out her fighter.

The medical team rushed her through the various hallways and a turbolift to get to sickbay, not slowing down for a second because of the amount of blood that she was bleeding, and if they didn't get her to sickbay soon she would die. She went into cardiac arrest once and they had to do heart compressions while still racing through the hallways just to keep her heart going, just long enough for her to get into sick bay. When she arrived she was near death and Doctor Magellan and his team began stripping her of what was left of her clothes and unceremoniously dumped her into the Bacta tank. Within minutes the Bacta began its work, her lifesigns stabilized and she was out of immediate danger, the clear bluish white fluid improving and quickening the healing process.

* * *

Captain Hawks meanwhile had just come down to the main fighter bay, right after Master Secura had been rushed off to sickbay for an appointment with a Bacta tank, he was looking over Master Secura's fighter, he hadn't seen many of the customized Eta-2s that the Jedi used and he was curious. What he saw didn't impress him much; both of the S-foils had been blown off, lots of carbon scoring across the hull and only one intact laser cannon.

He quickly found the deck chief in charge of the fighter, who was shaking his head in resignation at the very sorry state of Secura's fighter.

"So, what's the verdict, Chief?" Captain Hawks asked.

The young deck chief started in surprise at the Captain's question then visibly calmed down.

"Well sir, if it had been a Thranta I'd have put it down," said the Alderaanian chief.

"No way you could salvage it?"

"No sir, she's barely worth being scrap metal."

"Alright, have one of the shuttles tow it outside; we'll use it for target practice."

"Sir?" The chief was bewildered.

"I think our gunners could use the practice of trying to hit a tiny target at extremely long range, don't you think?"

"Aye sir, I'll have it towed outside in a few minutes."

"Very good, I'll be on the bridge."

The Jedi Interceptor was quickly towed out of the hangar bay and into deep space, placing it several thousand kilometres away from the _Challenger_.

On the bridge Captain Hawks looked over his gunnery officers in the crew pit and gave them a small smile.

"Today I have a little test of your skills for you. A target has been uploaded to your consoles. It is a heavily damaged Jedi Interceptor and the goal of this test is to see how good your targeting skills are at extreme range. You will not be using the targeting computer, you will aim and target manually. The guns you'll be using will be the main guns set to long range precision fire mode. The gunner that hits and destroys the target first gets a week of paid leave."

The gunners all smiled at this and they were all determined to get that leave, it was very rare that they ever got any kind of leave, and paid leave was the best kind.

They quickly went into action, painted the target and aimed the _Challenger's_ main guns, which would normally be considered overkill by most standards, Jack wanted that ship vaporized.

The gunners had aligned their guns towards the target and waited for permission to open fire, constantly making small corrections to keep their guns correctly aligned with their target.

"Fire at will," he said, and the gunners responded with ripple of weapons fire, sending full powered Turbolaser shots downrange. All of the first shots missed as a thruster on the fighter malfunctioned and moved it slightly. Hot on their target's tail they shifted their fire and they finally hit, the first hit was merely a glancing blow, but the second hit dead on, blowing it apart into fragments, and the fragments got vaporized by the rest.

A young gunner whooped in delight as he got the shot that blew it into fragments, the others groaned at only getting a glancing blow and vaporizing a few fragments.

"Who's the winner, Commander Hess?" Jack asked.

"Lieutenant Darren Kyle, sir, a very promising officer and an excellent gunner," she replied.

"Pay him Commander then put us back on course for Coruscant, best speed."

"Aye sir, helm you heard the order, full speed for Coruscant."

The _Challenger_ made a smooth turn in the right direction, accelerated and disappeared into Hyperspace, its future uncertain as it headed towards the city planet of Coruscant.

* * *

AN: Please R&R, I need some good critique.

AN2: edited 20.5.2013


	2. Beginnings

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 2: Beginnings.  
**

As the _Challenger_ continued through Hyperspace on course for Coruscant Captain Hawks was on his way to the ship's sickbay, Commander Hess having everything well in hand on the bridge. He quickly asked for Doctor Magellan and was led straight to him by one of the pretty nurses that the good doctor always insisted on having onboard, though all of them were all smart and knew their craft well, the captain couldn't help but wonder if he had an ulterior motive.

The nurse led him to the Bacta room where Doctor Magellan was eyeing the readouts from the built in medical scanner in the tank where Jedi Master Aayla Secura was floating peacefully in an unconscious state, wearing nothing but her birthday suit and a breathing mask hooked up to a life support system.

"How's she doing doctor?" Jack asked.

"Doing quite well now, if we were any later she would most likely have been dead by the time we got her into the Bacta tank."

"What were her injuries?"

"Multiple cuts and bruises, several blaster burns on her back, lucky for her none of them hit her spine, otherwise she would most likely have been paralyzed from the waist down."

"How is her recovery coming?"

"My preliminary analysis leads me to believe she will be in that tank for at least another few days to heal her wounds and recovery should only take another day once she's out of the tank, the way Jedi seem to heal."

"Good, let's just hope that our new emperor doesn't catch wind of this, otherwise all our heads will be up on the chopping block before we'd have the chance to react."

Doctor Magellan nodded in agreement.

"Let me know when she is fit to be taken out of the tank, I want to speak with her personally," said Jack, getting the doctor's reluctant nod in reply and then headed back to the bridge.

* * *

A day later the _Challenger_ came out of Hyperspace just outside Coruscant's orbit and was put into a holding parking orbit. Unlike most Venator class cruisers, the _Challenger_ was simply too big to land on a planet's surface. Soon after they were put into parking orbit the Captain went to his debriefing with the Emperor. Coming along with him was Commander Max and a squad of his best troopers, he had also been summoned before the Emperor and Jack was not looking forward to this. For some reason he was feeling a sense of dread coming upon him as they approached the capital of the new Empire.

The LAAT/i gunship flew through the busy sky lanes of Coruscant, heading straight for what was once the Palace of the Republic, now renamed the Imperial Palace. It was a tall structure, nearly three kilometres tall and was a single skyscraper with a wide base, however there was a lot of new construction around the palace, slowly taking shape. The gunship landed in one of the palace's many cavernous hangar bays, where a large number of shuttles and gunships had also just recently landed, Captain Hawks and Commander Max were among the last of those to arrive, and everyone else had already gone in. A mouse droid with a small holo-projector was waiting for them. A small hologram of a protocol droid sprang to life.

"Please follow the mouse droid to the main conference room, and do not deviate from the planned route, the consequences would be most unfortunate."

Heeding the droid's words they didn't waste any time and followed the mouse droid to a large auditorium. The highest ranking admirals and generals were at the front, further back were the lower ranked admirals and at the back were the captains of a select few ships and combat squadrons. From what Jack could see this was a gathering of some of the most respected and highest ranked individuals in the Grand Army of the Republic, now the Imperial Navy and Army.

From a side door the Emperor entered wearing a simple black cloak, surrounded by a personal bodyguard of six Red Guards, the recently commissioned protectors of the emperor which gave everyone in the room chills. The Emperor took centre stage and addressed the assembled officers.

"Welcome to Imperial Centre, my friends," he said in a rasping voice, though at the same time it projected friendliness, though to Jack he felt like someone was pouring rancid oil down his back.

"You have all been summoned here to receive your just rewards for your service to the Republic; you are all the most skilled of our new Empire's officer corp. And now I will personally present to you your medals for actions taken in quelling the Jedi rebellion. Admiral Yularen, come forth please?"

A tall man in his late thirties with a moustache and prematurely greying hair stepped up to the podium and walked up to the Emperor who pinned a special silver medal onto his chest, a small oval pendant with the new Imperial seal stamped on it.

"For Special Services to the Empire," the Emperor intoned after he pinned the medal on, Admiral Yularen saluted and returned to his seat. Soon after another admiral was called forth and another medal was pinned to his chest, the Emperor repeated what he said to Yularen as each officer got their medals pinned on.

They soon got through the admirals and then went on to the captains and soon enough it was Jack's turn. He got out of his seat and headed for the podium, walking forward at a brisk pace, but not too fast, he reached the podium quickly. The feeling of rancid oil running down his back became being covered in it and Jack felt a very strong desire to puke and take a long hot shower, vowing to do so as soon as he got back to his ship.

He arrived at the podium before the Emperor and stood tall and proud as the Emperor pinned the medal on his chest, feeling a very cold sensation grip his heart as the Emperor said; "For Special Services to the Empire."

Jack couldn't help but feel as if he was being scanned, the yellow eyes of the emperor seeming to examine him from top to bottom and inside and out, and he could feel the old man's breath upon him, settling on his clothes like a damned grease spot that just won't go away. He saluted stiffly and walked away, with the Emperor smiling evilly behind his back, having caught a glimpse of this one's possible future.

The ceremony dragged on for hours and the feeling was still there, and by the end of it he felt like he would never be clean again. He was about to leave with Max when an Admiral came towards him, a man in his late fifties with short dark grey hair and in a dark grey uniform, that same accursed medal pinned on his chest and his face had a neutral look, but you could see in his eyes that he was disgusted with today's events, just as Jack was.

"Captain, I am Admiral Rod, I would like to speak to you in private in my office on the _Guardian_," the Admiral's flagship? "After you have returned to your ship and changed," he added quietly.

"Aye sir," said Captain Hawks, snapping a crisp salute and left wondering why the Admiral in charge of anti-piracy would want to meet with him.

* * *

An hour later Jack had taken a shuttle to the _Guardian_, one of the new Imperator class Star Destroyers that were coming off the assembly lines, after he had gotten out of his uniform and into the fresher unit in his quarters, got rid of the medal and put the uniform, one of his favourites he regretted, into the incinerator down in engineering, the crew wondering what was going on with their captain.

The shuttle was directed to the forward landing bay where a lieutenant, the admiral's aide he assumed, was waiting for him.

"Welcome aboard the Guardian, Captain," the aide greeted, who upon closer inspection was a woman, and had full lieutenants bars on her shoulders, a rarity these days. "Follow me please," she said and turned sharply on her heel and walked ahead of him, Jack following close behind.

They soon arrived at the admiral's office; the aide announced his presence as he entered. The office was spartanly decorated, with only a few small trinkets and a holo-image of his family on his desk, a very old fashioned one at that. The desk itself was a simple metal desk that you'd normally see on a warship in a captain's quarters, not an admiral's who normally choose expensive ones made of real wood.

"Captain Jack Hawks, reporting as ordered sir."

"At ease captain, take a seat," said the admiral, gesturing to one of the two seats that sat in front of his desk.

"I suppose you saw the smoke coming from the Jedi Temple and noticed the recent renaming of our capital?"

"Yes sir. If I may ask, how the hell did this happen?"

The Admiral took on a look of reminiscence. "A combination of the Jedi's blindness, the lack of will and plenty of greed in the senate and a skilful manipulator from behind the scenes, manipulating everything to his own design," Admiral Rod said knowingly.

"This whole war was a setup to destroy the Jedi Order, and this is not the first time that the Jedi have been destroyed," he said knowingly. "How good is your history, Captain?"

"History wasn't exactly my strong suit; I was more interested in being a fighter pilot than an historian."

The Admiral chuckled slightly. "Four thousand years ago there was a war, not too dissimilar to this one, that had the Republic on its knees, and the Jedi Order was badly crippled, but not destroyed, and I would bet good money on there being at least a few Jedi that survived the Emperor's purge," the admiral said knowingly.

"The Jedi had to rebuild from almost the foundations, and just as before they became too focused upon their own bloody code that they became blind to what was happening right under their noses. The cycle of death and rebirth repeats itself," now the Admiral sounded annoyed.

"How do you know of this, if I may ask sir?"

The admiral gave a small smile. "Let's just say my family has a history with the Jedi and we'll leave it at that!"

"Yes sir."

"I bet your wondering why I called you here," he said as he noticed the look of curiosity in the Captain's eyes. "I ordered you here to tell you that I have transferred your ship and crew over to my command, you will be part of a new task force that I and several other admirals proposed. You are going to take command of a new Anti-Piracy Battle Group, one of several that are planned in the coming years. Your job will be to hunt down and destroy any pirates that prey upon Imperial shipping, particularly in the Core Worlds like Corellia."

This was a surprise, anti-piracy was one of the reasons Jack had joined the Corellian Defence Forces.

"The _Challenger_ will still be your flagship; however you will not be alone. I am also assigning two Acclamator II class frigates to your battle group, the _Endurance_ and the _Dauntless_, both captained by old friends of yours I believe," said the Admiral plainly.

"Yes, Captains Victor Macdougan and Zack Richter, they were both in my squadron when I was a fighter pilot. Sir why isn't Captain MacDougal getting this command, he's senior?"

"Because you have the most powerful ship and the most experience with dealing with pirates, the other two are fine captains, but they don't know how the mind of a pirate works. You do!"

¨Very well," Jack said resigned. "What other ships am I getting; I'm assuming it won't just be capital ships?"

"You'll also be getting six military CR90 Corvettes. That should be more than enough firepower to take down any known pirate band out there." The Admiral looked rather smug.

"Sir that's about the same kind of firepower we would use for taking out a small Separatist base, don't you think it's a little overkill?"

"Trust me 'Commodore,' in the future you're going to be glad for the extra ships and firepower when you go up against some of the larger pirate bands, some even have managed to get a hold of some Separatist warships, including the droids used to both run and defend them."

The sudden look of surprise on the newly promoted Jack Hawks was priceless to the admiral who just loved springing these sorts of surprises on the officers under his command.

"That's right Commodore, since you now have command over more than just one ship, and the admiralty doesn't really want to make you an admiral, they decided to just give you an honorary promotion, since a Commodore's duties only extends to the ships he commands and not to other ship captains not in your battle group. Attention."

Jack sprang up from his seat and stood at attention as the admiral walked around his desk with a box in his hands. Inside was a new insignia to identify him as a Commodore and a unit patch that would go on his right upper arm. The admiral removed the old insignia and pinned on the new and replaced the old unit patch.

"Thank you sir," said Jack numbly, trying to process what had just happened.

"I also have another surprise for you," the admiral said smiling. "Your new battle group will be the first to receive a full refit and upgrade in anticipation of your needs as a new Anti-Piracy Battle Group, and you should probably get back to your ship, your ships will arrive within the hour."

"Where are we going to get our refits?"

"Hawks Shipyards in the Corellian system, I believe you are familiar with the place?" the admiral smirked.

"Yes sir," said Jack, smiling at the fond memories he had of the shipyards, the place of his birth.

* * *

An hour later the eight ships that Commodore Jack Hawks had received command of arrived in orbit of Coruscant and as soon as they had achieved parking orbit the newly promoted commodore requested the commanding officers of all ships to come aboard the _Challenger_ for a staff meeting.

They met in the Captains Mess and all took their seats, with Jack at the head of the table.

"Alright people, now that we're all here I guess you've all received your new orders and know that you have all had yourselves and your commands transferred under me. I am also confident that you have seen what has happened to the Republic and the Jedi Order. One twisted and forged into an Empire, the other for all intents and purposes destroyed, opinions gentlemen?"

Every one of the captains assembled looked nervously at each other and at their new commanding officer. The Commodore gave them a challenging stare-down, daring them to speak up. At last one of the captains, the oldest, Captain Macdougan finally worked up the courage and said, "It is a damned disgrace, and it makes me sick to think that with one order one man wiped out the entire Jedi Order, right down to the last youngling, and now we are being ordered to hunt down and kill them. The Jedi I worked with, before and during the war, had no aspirations to take over, just to serve and protect the people; they were peacekeepers for crying out loud."

Every captain in the room nodded in agreement and the Commodore smiled and nodded at his old friend.

"Thank you my old friend for voicing everyone's opinion at this table, and I bet you all want to take your ships and bomb the Emperor's palace until there is nothing more than a smoking crater!"The idea appealed greatly to them all, but there is always a problem. "The only problem is that we'd be shot down before we'd even be able to fire a second shot."

"It would be worth it just to remove him," said one of the younger commanders.

"What about the lives of your crew, did you think of them?" Jack retorted.

Everyone grew quiet at that. They were all loyal to their crews and would never needlessly endanger them.

"For now we and a small number of people we know within the military are the only ones that share the same opinion about Order 66. We all know the role we have been set to play in this new order. To hunt down pirates and other organized crime within the new Empire, and for now that's what we will do." The looks on his Captains faces were ones of disappointment then interest. "We will keep a generally low profile and talk the party line, but in the process we'll be getting whole new ships. The Imperial Fleet is footing the bill for a series of refits and upgrades for our ships to be done at the Shipyards in the Corellian system, the Hawks shipyards to be specific."

Everyone's ears perked up at that. Hawks shipyards were famous for its unorthodox designs and modification of ships and fighters, and had played a major role in outfitting the _Challenger_.

"What I have just said and what I am going to say could be construed as treasonous, so if you want to leave before you hear something you feel you should report should do so, however as a warning if you stay and later betray us then there won't be anywhere in this galaxy that you'll be able to hide."

With the threat lingering over their heads they all considered their options, but the two senior captains at the table said immediately, "Jack you always were a smart son of a bitch," said Captain Macdougan. "I'm in."

"Me to," said Captain Richter smiling at his old friend, with the rest following suit.

"Alright, then here's what we do..."

In that meeting the seeds of dissension within the ranks of the Imperial military were sown, and no amount of purges would ever be able to get rid of it fully.

As soon as the meeting was over the nine ships of the recently formed _Challenger_ Anti-Piracy Battle Group jumped to light speed on course for what would be their new home for the next decade.

* * *

AN: Hope my readers like this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Please keep in mind that I also have real life stuff to do and other stories to write.


	3. Reawakening and Refit

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 3: Reawakening and Refit.**

As the _Challenger_ flew through Hyperspace on course for Corellia a certain blue-skinned Twi'Lek had just been taken out of her Bacta-Tank and was being dried off and led to a nearby bed by a pair of nurses, helping her in and got her properly settled. The good Doctor Magellan reluctantly placed a call over the ship's intercom for the newly promoted Commodore to come down to sickbay. A minute later Jack arrived to find her in a comfortable bed with a large amount of food and a bottle of water on a tray before her and she was tucking in wholeheartedly.

Before speaking to her he asked to see the doctor.

"How is she, she seems to have developed a healthy appetite," the Commodore commented.

"It's a side-effect of the healing process with Bacta, it leaves you very hungry, and right now she really needs to recover her strength," the doctor answered pointedly. "Otherwise she's fine, a little bed rest and some good food and she'll be back on her feet swinging that lightsabre of hers around in no time."

The Commodore gave a small smile at the good doctor's words then headed towards the twi'lek Jedi' sickbay bed. She was now wearing a white hospital gown and was laid out under the covers sitting up and eating heartily from the food tray in front of her, her head tails laid over her ample bosom, which Jack tried to avert his eyes from and look into her eyes instead.

"Master Jedi?" he inquired. She looked up from her food tray and started to examine him with her deep penetrating hazel eyes, and once again Jack felt like he was being scanned from head to toe and inside and out, though the feeling he got from her was a gentle flow of clean water washing away the taint he felt when he was with the Emperor.

"I'm Commodore Jack Hawks, the commanding officer of this ship and its battle group."

"I suppose you are the one to thank for not just blowing my fighter out of the sky and killing me?"

"That's right."

"Why?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," he answered.

"But the clones, they attacked me and almost killed me..."

"Do you see any clones working in sickbay?"

She glanced around and saw none, just a doctor and his army of pretty nurses, and no clones, not even in the other beds.

"Are there any clones aboard?"

"There are a number of them onboard, but they're mostly just Marines and pilots for our fighters, the rest of the crew are regular volunteers from Corellia, Chandrila and even Alderaan."

"Why did they attack me and my fellow Jedi?"

"This may be hard for you to take, but the Chancellor executed Executive Order 66."

"What is Order 66?"

Jack withdrew a small data pad from behind his back and showed her. Her eyes opened wide in horror at what she was reading.

"Every Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic, and the Chancellor has now declared himself Emperor and reorganized the Republic into the Galactic Empire, 'For a safe and secure society," he finished sarcastically.

Aayla reached out through the Force, stretching her mind out into the galaxy, searching for the light that was her fellow Jedi, but all she found was darkness with only a small number of candles to light it up, but the darkness was slowly blinking them out one by one, for each candle that went out another of her brothers and sisters died, the feeling of pain and loss was almost too much for her and she fell into despair, crying out both mentally and vocally at the emotional pain she felt as she got caught up on recent events, her previous injuries and situation had given her the focus she needed to block out the pain, but now it all came crashing back to her like a great wave that threatened to break her, until she felt someone take hold of her hand and draw her into an embrace, the Commodore lent his strength to her as she cried her heart out on his shoulder, the doctors and nurses looking on in sympathy at the poor stricken woman they saw her reduced to.

* * *

It was an hour later that Aayla finally cried herself to sleep and the doctor gave her something to keep her that way for a while longer, and Jack returned to the bridge, his xo having been informed of the situation down in sickbay had handled the day to day operations while the Commodore was down there. They were now only a day away from their destination and Jack decided that he had put off his duty long enough.

"How are things up here, Commander?"

"All is well, sir," she responded. "Hyperdrive is running at standard cruise velocity, we should arrive at Corellia in roughly twenty three hours, give or take fifteen minutes."

"Very good," said Jack as he took in the view of Hyperspace. "How is the crew handling things?"

"They're still pretty shook up sir, and for that matter so am I." She paused for a second. "I know you trust everyone on your ship, but for the right price anyone can be bought and if the Emperor finds out that you are harbouring a..." she took a discreet look around and continued as quietly as she could, "A Jedi onboard none of us will be safe from the chopping block."

"Maybe, but you have to remember that we have worked this crew for over two years and we know most of them by their faces and names, and we have the loyalty of both the clone marines and pilots. They'll follow Max's lead and Max is loyal to the Republic's ideals, not the Emperor."

"It need only take one," she said in a whisper so quietly that Jack had to strain his ears just to hear her words.

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it," he said reassuringly. "Carry on Commander." He spun on his heel and walked off the bridge, leaving behind a serene looking, but still very worried executive officer in his wake as he headed for his cabin to get some paperwork done and look over the dossiers of his six new Corvette captains, then get some shuteye. He wanted to be well rested for his homecoming, he hadn't seen home in nearly two years, not since the _Challenger_ had cleared the Shipyard's docks, but sleep would elude him for most of the night, plagued by images of him and his crew being found guilty of treason by the Emperor and then publically executed, one by one, with an especially cruel punishment for Aayla and his xo, making him wake up in a cold sweat halfway through the night then promptly fell back asleep, though he was afraid to sleep again, for the images truly terrified him.

* * *

The next day he was rudely awakened by the ship's intercom, the Republic engineers responsible for designing the damned system had chosen one of the loudest and most annoying of all tones possible and Jack was quite vehemently cursing them and the person calling him right now as he struggled to get out of his bunk.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but we've almost arrived at Corellia, you wanted me to call you an hour before our arrival," Commander Hess said sweetly.

"Yes, very good Commander, I'll be up there soon," he said grumpily as he got into his fresher unit, feeling slightly more human afterwards as he put his uniform on and headed up to the Command Bridge. They were still in Hyperspace as evidenced by the swirling blue vortex outside the forward viewports and his xo was her usual attentive self, while the Commodore still looked like he had just gotten out of bed.

"Your just in time, sir, we're just about to come out of Hyperspace," she reported, looking all too cheerful for Jack's tastes.

"You seem to be in high spirits."

"Well it's the first time I've returned home in little over two years and you've got to be excited about going home as well?"

"Yes, I am," he said as he gazed out the forward viewport, waiting for a sight he hadn't seen in almost two years of warfare.

"Sir, pardon me for saying so, but you look like crap."

"I had trouble sleeping last night, bad dreams."

When he didn't elaborate Commander Hess chose not to push the issue, not wanting to ruin her commanding officer's homecoming. From one of the side-turbolifts Aayla Secura stepped onto the bridge, physically fully healed, but still far from alright mentally. She approached the two officers from behind and waited quietly for the transition from Hyperspace to Normal space, neither noticed her arrival on the command bridge.

Seconds later they dropped out of Hyperspace just outside an asteroid field, the asteroids moved erratically inside the field, crashing into each other again and again at random. Just outside the view ports to the left was a large space station. A spherical main section that housed the main reactor and production facilities, a habitat ring emulating old pre-artificial gravity designs with ten thick arms sticking straight out with ten dry docks each, each one of them capable of taking a ship the size of Imperator class Star Destroyer.

Jack took in the sight of his home, happy to finally come back after two long hard years of heavy combat, death and destruction. Commander Hess used her ever present head-set to activate the ships communication system.

"This is the _Challenger_ Battle Group requesting permission to dock."

On one of the monitors an older man came on and said," You have permission to dock _Challenger_; slips have been made available for you, slave your navigational systems to us and we'll guide you and your ships in. Welcome home." It was Jack's father.

"It's good to be home," Jack said quietly.

"You lived here?" Master Secura asked, startling both Jack and his xo.

"Yes, I was born on that station. My father owns and runs these shipyards," Jack answered slightly flustered. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I felt that we were approaching our destination and I wanted to see for myself, and besides I was getting a little stir crazy down in sickbay." She chuckled heartedly at the twos expressions of surprise.

"Here I thought that Jedi didn't have any sense of humour," Commander Hess commented.

"Not all Jedi are as stiff as you would think, Master Yoda himself was notorious for playing the odd practical joke on his fellow council members," Aayla responded.

As the senior officers conversed with the Jedi the helmsmen networked the ship's navigation system to Shipyard Control to begin the intricate dance that was to bring them into their docking slip, followed by the rest of the ships in the battle group. With seemingly agonizing slowness the _Challenger_ glided into her slip, helped by various tractor beams and the occasional thruster firing to keep her on course. As she glided into position the tractor beams held her steady as docking clamps latched onto the hull and the docking slip began to close up around the _Challenger_, sealing her in an airtight open space which soon had breathable air pumped in, allowing for biological workers to work without having to don spacesuits to protect themselves from the vacuum of space. As soon as it was sealed up and atmosphere was pumped in the crew began to disembark, everyone had been ordered off the ship as it underwent its refit, except for Chief Engineer Ganto's engineering teams that were staying aboard to oversee final shutdown procedures.

Aayla looked worriedly at Jack, knowing that there were bound to be security cams all over the shipyards and it would take only one picture for the Emperors Jedi hunters to come in fast and furious for her.

"Don't worry Master Secura. I believe I have an interesting cover for you. If you would return to sickbay I think the good doctor has the appropriate attire for you," Jack said grinning, which made Aayla slightly nervous, but knew that for now she would have to trust this man, and followed his suggestion.

* * *

An hour later Commodore Hawks and his senior officers stepped off of the _Challenger_ and into the shipyard after everyone else had left, the senior officers traditionally the last to leave when the ship was to undergo a refit, only the Chief Engineer and his staff were still onboard locking down major systems and preparing the ship for its six month long overhaul. Meeting them at the airlock was a large man with a grey beard and sea-green eyes, the same as Jack's, along with another slightly shorter with dark eyes, slightly greying curly hair and a light build.

The first man stepped forward and embraced Jack like family.

"Welcome home Jack," Hal Hawks greeted his son quietly, but warmly.

"It's good to be home," Jack returned as he hugged his father back. They soon broke apart and Hal took a quick look at his son's entourage.

"Well, look what we have here," said Hal as he took in the visage of both Commander Hess in her casual duty uniform, and made it look good too, and Aayla Secura in her slave girl outfit, a mess of black veils that covered only her privates and her face, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. "I see that your taste has improved," he said leeringly, which made both women nervous. "Any chance I could get some alone time with them?"

"Dad I'm only going to say this once. Stay away from Commander Hess, she's my xo, not one of your airhead secretaries and the Twi'Lek is mine, you may watch her dance, but you will never have the pleasure of her flesh, she is very loyal to me," said Jack, both as a warning and as an act for whatever cams or other surveillance there was in the corridor.

"Very well son, your mother would've probably killed me in my sleep if I even tried," Hal said ruefully and winked at both women. "At least she'll be some fine entertainment after our little meeting. Come on." Hal led them down the corridors to a small conference room with a viewport, which happened to have a spectacular view of the Challenger in dock. In the centre of the conference room was a circular conference table with several high-backed chairs surrounding the table. The centre of the table had been cut out and had a clear glass panel in its place where a high grade holo-projector was installed.

"Well son, what sort of mess is the galaxy in now?" Hal asked.

"Among the worst you could ever imagine."

"So you didn't enjoy having a medal pinned on your uniform for your dedicated service by the new emperor!"

"Dad the man gave me the creeps, if you could call what's left of him a man," he said remembering the feeling he got when he was close to the emperor and the heavily scarred and deformed face. "Afterwards I felt like I needed to jump into a decontamination shower and burn my uniform, along with that accursed medal."

"That is the same general feeling a Jedi gets when we're close to someone so steeped in the dark side that there is only darkness left in their hearts," said Aayla from her place at the table.

"You think he was that Sith Lord that was rumoured to be behind the war, it was Palpatine all along?" Commander Hess asked.

"I believe so, but belief only gets you so far, and I don't think any proof we could possibly bring to light would even be looked at."

"Miss, how do you know that's what a Jedi feels when they are close to a Sith?" Hal asked.

Aayla pulled the veil to the side of her head and bared her face for all to see, revealing her identity to everyone in the room.

"I see your taking in strays now, and a most beautiful and dangerous one at that," Hal commented.

"I found her in her fighter adrift in space, and it was the right thing to do," said Jack with conviction.

"I knew I raised you right," said Hal proudly. "It's just a shame that your mother isn't here to see..." the old man's face darkened at the memory of his wife's death, assassinated by Jango Fett several years before the Clone Wars, hired by the Hutts to show that he and his family wasn't safe. Hal had commissioned another bounty hunter to kill the hutt that ordered her murder, thereby ending the threat to his family and business, but it was still an open wound.

Hal shook his head at the memories and turned to look at his guests.

"Enough of this talk it's too depressing," he said as he gestured to the man sitting next to him. "I believe you all recognise my partner here, Walex Blissex?"

"Pleasure to meet you," Blissex said politely.

"You were the head designer for Rendili StarDrive, weren't you?" Jack asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because I don't trust the Emperor, and your father has agreed to have me, I'd rather work for him than the empire," Blissex answered.

"But you designed the Victory class Star Destroyer and the V-Wing starfighter, and your redesigning the _Challenger_," Commander Hess challenged.

"Those were meant to be used by the Republic to protect the peace, not be tools for a dictator who is quickly turning what once was a shining beacon of civilization into a police state, curbing more and more freedoms everyday and I will not be a party to that," Blissex said vehemently. After he calmed down for a second he nodded to Hal who activated the built in holo-projector in the conference table.

"This is a representation of what your ship looks like today, very reminiscent of a standard Venator, just a lot bigger and slightly more heavily armed," Blissex said as the hologram of the Challenger spun in midair. "It is a good solid design; however she still has some weaknesses, particularly the open-space landing deck, it doesn't have the ability to seal off damaged sections of itself in case of massive damage or fire, and forcefields are not reliable enough to counter such things."

The image shifted and the _Challenger_ appeared again, this time heavily modified with smaller holograms surrounding it, highlighting different sections of the ship.

"I propose that we refit the _Challenger_ with these modifications. New triple barrelled turbolasers batteries, four beam turbolasers, the same that is mounted on the SPHA, an improved suite of point defence laser cannons, stronger shields, a faster hyperdrive, and a new power plant," said Blissex.

"What sort of power plant?" Chief Engineer Ganto asked.

"An improved version of the Imperial Star Destroyer's power plant, considerably smaller, but just as powerful, supplemented with a pair of much smaller reactors to provide the extra energy for weapons and shields."

Ganto looked over the figures for the _Challenger's_ new power plant and was astonished at what he was seeing. "You've turned the _Challenger_ into a real powerhouse; she will have almost half again the power output potential of an Imperial Star Destroyer."

"Similar modifications are going to be done to the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_, essentially creating a new sub-class of the old Acclamator class," said Blissex as he had Hal bring up holographic schematics of the two frigates, right next to the holo of the _Challenger_.

"I present to you the Acclamator III class heavy frigates _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_," said Blissex grandly as an image of two heavily modified Acclamators spun in midair.

"Another modification, which is going to be standard on all your ships," said Hal as he gave all the captains pointed looks. "Have you ever heard of Mandalorian Ore?"

"Yes, it's used in the making of Mandalorian armour, extremely strong and supposedly indestructible," said Commander Ganto.

"Almost commander, almost," said Blissex.

"Before the clone wars I managed to cut a very good deal for the ore and the experts to forge it into armour from the then leader of the Mandalorians, Duchess Satine of Mandalore. The Mandalorian master craftsmen have been teaching us how to forge the metal and we've combined it with standard starship armour to increase its strength significantly," said Hal with a very satisfied smile.

"How long will these upgrades take to implement on my ships?" Jack asked.

"No more than six months, we tested out most of these upgrades on an old Dreadnought class cruiser, we just finished perfecting the systems only just last month," said Blissex confidently.

The Commodore became a little apprehensive at that. "That was an old warship which you basically gutted and replaced much of the ship itself, these upgrades will do the same to my ships and we'll probably be out of action for a year, and I don't think neither the admiralty nor the new emperor will think much of a project that would keep us in dry-dock for that long, or possibly longer than that," said Jack scathingly, knowing that these sorts of projects had a habit of running headlong into unexpected delays and problems, not to mention the possibility of corporate espionage and sabotage by rival companies, particularly Kuat Drive Yards, a very heated rival of the CEC, and by extension Hawks Shipyards.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that, it seems that your admiral has gained the Emperor's trust, enough for him to allow this 'special' project of ours, especially since it's merely a proof of concept project," said Hal to reassure the Commodore. "However the Emperor has ordered that the rest of the half-built sister ships to be scrapped, in favour of those Imperial monstrosities," Hal continued.

"I didn't know there were any sister ships," said Commander Hess.

"They were never completed, _Challenger_ was commissioned a year and a half into the war, and was also just a prototype, a competing design with the Imperator class, but the Emperor and the senate wanted more heavy warships like the Imperator and Tector classes," said Jack. "The carrier role was being more than fulfilled by the traditional Venator class and other dedicated carriers, and we needed a higher number of warships to counter the massive droid fleets of the Separatists."

"Mister Hawks, I assume that my engineering teams are going to be working with your engineers and techs on the refit?" Commander Ganto asked, hoping that this would be the case, he sees the _Challenger_ as his, the Commodore just borrows it from time to time, and he was not about to let just anyone fool around with her.

"I wouldn't dream of keeping your engineers out of the loop, Commander," said Hal. "You will be the ones who will be maintaining her after all."

Many more questions were raised and answered during the meeting, and by the end of it Jack had a light headache, so much information to absorb and process. The Commodore wasn't an engineering minded person; he was a ship handler first and foremost, and a damned good one at that.

* * *

Several hours later, just after the meeting was over, Jack managed to find himself a quiet spot on the station with a viewport that looked over his ship, the hull pot marked with carbon scoring from several battles, war scars from a war that was nothing more than an oversized diversion for the galaxy's peacekeepers. He sat in a soft, comfortable leather repulsor sofa, watching as work crews began taking off the _Challenger's_ outer armour and hull, exposing the insides of her for all to see. From a side door of the observation lounge, one of a dozen lounges in this one slipway came his twi'lek guest, still dressed in her revealing slave girl outfit. She sauntered up to him and sat with him on the repulsor sofa and wrapped her arms around him.

"You don't need to continue the act in here, my dear," said Jack. "No secure cams and the viewport functions as a one way mirror, we can look out, but no one can look in."

"I know, I'm just staying in character in case someone walks in on us," she replied as her arms began massaging his sore back and neck muscles. "It has been a very trying time for you, Commodore."

"Look who's talking, you got released from sickbay just this morning, after nearly getting yourself killed in a dogfight," Jack retorted.

She remained quiet as she administered her gentle touch on him, studying the man before her and the ship that was currently being worked on.

"Why are you doing all this, is it to get back at the people who betrayed the Republic and turned it into an Empire, or perhaps it's something more personal?"

"I believe in the basic principles of the Republic; however the Republic was doomed to fall anyway."

"Why?"

"Because it simply grew too big and the bureaucracy was simply too much, I believe that the fracturing of the Republic was inevitable, too many opposing views, too much greed, the Jedi Order merely delayed the inevitable, and the Emperor accelerated it, then forcefully brought it back together again, though this time the tools being used now are not the ones of democracy or diplomacy, they are the tools of terror, and I believe we have both seen our share of terrible things during this war."

The young twi'lek Jedi Master could only silently nod in reply. She had seen and done much in her years as a Jedi, she was definitely not the poster child for the perfect Jedi, considering she had been down the dark path before, and as a result of the Jedi massacre she almost fell down that road again. At this moment though she felt that her fate and this human's were inexplicably linked, as well as that ship, but the future was always in motion, impossible to predict and every decision a person made added another path for the road.

"Do you fight for freedom? For Corellia?" she pressed.

"Yes, I do. It is my home world, I'd do what I have to do to make sure that Corellia stays safe, and I think that even if the Republic is restored Corellia should stay independent, an ally of the Republic!" he said with conviction.

"I see," said Aayla thoughtfully. "How much are you willing to sacrifice for your beliefs?

"What I have to, but I won't sacrifice innocents if I have any say about it."

"Good, then there is hope for you Commodore, never let go of your beliefs they will be a helpful guide. I do believe that I never thanked you properly for what you did to save me. Thank you for not turning me over to the Empire," she said and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"You really want to get this deep into your new role?"

"I chose this for myself, I feel I should stay close to you for now, besides the best way to hide something, or someone, is in plain sight, plus a little bit of cosmetic surgery and DNA alteration and no one will be able to identify me as Aayla Secura. From now on you should call me Kayla, Kayla Macula."

"Very well, Kayla," said Jack in approval as he enjoyed the treatment he was getting from his new twi'lek 'servant.'

* * *

The next six months was very active for the Hawks Shipyards, they had nine ships they had to basically strip down to the keel then build back up again almost from scratch, essentially turning them into brand new vessels. In those six months the nine ships of the _Challenger_ battle group got a serious facelift, replacing just about every major system onboard, three of which were capital ships, however the project wasn't without its own share of delays, accidents and the occasional sabotage.

In reality it took over a year to complete the refit, and Commodore Jack Hawks has been waiting in anticipation for this moment.

Outside the ship work men and droids were quickly evacuating the slip way, just minutes before it began to depressurize for the _Challenger's_ launch, similar evacuation procedures were being carried out in the other slip ways. As soon as the slip way was depressurized the collapsible metal sheeting that covered it opened up like a flower, exposing the _Challenger_ to its native environment, the docking clamps and tractor beams released.

On the Command Bridge the Commodore watched as his crew began going over the final checks before they launched, and soon enough his xo came up to him and reported.

"All systems are go for launch sir, and the shipyard control tower has signalled that we're all cleared."

"Very good commander, take us out if you please," he said smiling from his captain's chair, placed just behind the crew pit so that he had an unobstructed view of his people and the main viewports.

"Aye sir," she said smiling, she loved this part.

"Helm, engines back one quarter, standby to turn 90 degrees to port then fire up the main engines to full power to clear the shipyard," she ordered sharply.

The helmsman merely nodded and concentrated on the task at hand, firing the ships forward bow thrusters, moving the ship slowly backwards away from the slipway, its hull glistening in the sunlight, free of scorch marks and in new colours, a dark gun metal grey covered most of the ship, with dark blue trim on the edges, the main doors for the dorsal launch bay and at the top of the dual bridges. As the ship turned away from the shipyard the main engines lit up a brilliant blue, accelerating the ship away from its temporary resting place and into space, the other ships following shortly after.

In the coming decades this particular battle group would become both famous and infamous, hated by pirates, loved by the common citizen, and Imperial officers from other divisions would look down upon these Clone War relics with disdain. However the officers and crew of these nine ships didn't care about what people thought of them, they just cared about doing their duty, but not for the Empire.

* * *

AN: Phew, sorry it took so long to write this chapter, but I had so many other ideas and stories I wanted to write this one went on the back burner for a while. Please leave a review, they are what makes me pick up the pen and continue to write these stories.


	4. Shakedown

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 4: Shakedown**

The asteroid belt of the Corellian system is a very chaotic place, asteroids flying all over the place along a set orbital path, the asteroids ranging in size from small pebbles to planetoid sized chunks of rock, which was the target for the _Challenger_ battle group today. After over a year in dry dock the Commodore and his crew were just itching to take her out for a spin, but so far over the past three months there had been a lot of problems, necessitating the ships of the battle group to return to the shipyards. Mostly small things, but now it was time to begin testing out the ships weapon systems.

The planetoid that was their target had a number of mineral deposits that were very valuable and useful in the construction of ships, and Hal Hawks thought that this would be like hitting two birds with one stone, they get to test the weapon systems while he gets the mineral wealth held in that planetoid.

"All hands man your battle stations," Commodore Jack Hawks commanded, his voice sounding on every deck of the ship, and the crew jumped into action. Fighters were fuelled up and ordinance loaded, weapons stations manned and weapons began powering up. The xo had an old fashioned mechanical pocket chronometer which she used to time the crew's response time and when all stations were manned and ready she clicked the chronometer to stop.

"Three minutes and twelve seconds, sir. Way to slow," she barked out at the crew over the intercom.

"All ships, report in response times," the Commodore ordered.

The times soon came in. The _Dauntless_ had a response time of three minutes twenty two seconds, while the _Endurance_ was three minutes twenty one. Captains Macdougan and Richter were both annoyed with their crew's response time being so rusted, though it was to be expected since they had been at liberty for almost a year, and this was their first combat drill. The escorts however had a response time of one minute thirty seconds, not bad for small escort corvettes.

"Gentlemen, that is not good enough, I want to get our response time down to less than two minutes. Schedule more drills and exercises as you see fit captains, Commander," he said from his command chair, not liking what he had seen. The response time of the crew before the refit had been no more than two minutes flat, and he knew the crew could perform far better than this.

"Commander, coordinate with the various department heads for more drills with the crew, I want that response time cut down to under the two minute mark ASAP, in the meantime let's try out our new teeth."

"Aye sir. Weapons officer, prime the Bow Chasers for firing," the xo commanded.

On the bow of the Challenger, to the sides of the nose doors for the dorsal launch bay, two heavily armoured doors opened up, and a pair of beam turbolaser cannons extended forward. The gun captains in charge of the weapons tested out the mechanisms that aimed the big guns, then they began to charge up, the muzzles of the guns began to glow a bright blue.

"Bow Chasers armed and locked on, sir," the xo reported.

"Fire at will Commander, let's clear our throat," the Commodore commanded.

With a smile the xo ordered, "Fire," and with a mighty blast both guns discharged at full power. The twin beams travelled instantaneously between the _Challenger_ and the planetoid, connecting them for a short instant. The beams cut deeply into the asteroid and blew a massive crater. From the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ similar beams lanced out from their bows, deepening the crater and almost knocked the planetoid out of its orbit.

"All gunners, fire at will, all turbolasers," she commanded, and the _Challenger_ seemed to light up in a storm of blue weapons fire, sending high energy pulses directly into the asteroid, causing it to break up into much smaller pieces.

"Not bad," the Commodore commented.

"I told you, you would be pleased," said Hal as he watched the large asteroid break up then asked the xo to tell the shipyard to send out the mining droids.

"I have also prepared another test for your ships, in particular the point defence systems. I managed to acquire an old CIS Lucrehulk class droid control ship with a full complement of droid fighters and bombers, as well as a pair of Munificent class frigates. They were originally slated for the scrap yard, but I managed to get them cheap from the Empire," said Hal, looking quite pleased.

"Good. Helm set course for the second testing ground, I want to see how our new teeth stack up against some real targets," said the Commodore.

The battle group moved away from the asteroid field and headed for open space just a few hundred thousand kilometres out, where three old and doomed ships were waiting for their final fate.

"I had all three ships disarmed, their fighters as well. The only thing those ships are armed with are ordinary targeting lasers. They should pose very little threat to your ships, but to make it a little more realistic I also had them crewed by battle droids, even got an old tactical on the cheap side," said Hal.

"Good, hopefully that will mean that we'll get a real challenge instead of just a bunch of dumb battle droids with basic programming, those tactical droids may have been among the most boring droids you could come across, but during the war the few of them that survived long enough to learn, could throw some real curveballs at you," Commodore Hawks commented.

* * *

On the droid control ship a tactical droid, known as TA-22 stood on the bridge, overseeing operations. Tactical droids were among the most intelligent series of battle droids in the CIS military, commanding entire fleets of ships at various times, though their demeanour towards other droids was less than stellar, even sacrificing allies to achieve victory, when it wasn't necessary.

This particular tactical droid had managed to survive from the very start of the Clone Wars until its deactivation when Lord Vader sent the signal that shut down the entire droid army. It also had access to Commodore Hawks' combat record; it knew its opponent well enough to almost precisely calculate how he would attack and react to its own counter attack. It also knew that the forces at its disposal, even if they were fully armed, had no chance against the _Challenger_ and its battle group; however its orders were clear.

"Launch all fighters and arm all weapons, prepare to engage the _Challenger_ battle group," it ordered.

"Roger, roger," a B1 battle droid responded as it relayed TA-22s orders.

Within seconds Vulture droids began falling from racks suspended from the ceiling of the hangars of the Lucrehulk and rocketed out, following the commands from central control, their mission, to destroy the _Challenger_ battle group by any means necessary. Vulture droids lead the way with Hyena bombers coming in right behind them, screened by the vultures. On the flanks were several squadrons of Tri-droids, accelerating hard and fast for the corvettes, to draw as much enemy fire as possible without getting shot down. These droids were the first to be destroyed.

They closed in, launching concussion missiles at the six corvettes, but those were quickly destroyed by their CIWS guns, and shortly after the fighters themselves got blown out of the sky, tracked by the extremely fast targeting systems. Anything that got within range was tracked, targeted then destroyed, the barrels of the CIWS guns span like crazy as they spewed out blue streamers of plasmatic death into the droid fighters paths. The Corvettes handled most of the fighters, but a fair few managed to bypass the them to get to the capital ships, launching their own missiles at the _Challenger_, _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_, only to get shot down by their CIWS guns, placed strategically on the ships.

* * *

"Enemy fighters down to 70%, 65%, they're dropping like flies sir," Commander Hess reported.

"Mister Blissex I see that my trust in you to make these modifications work wasn't misplaced," said the Commodore.

"It wasn't just me, Commodore, it was a team effort," Blissex responded, just before a squadron of fighters came straight for the command bridge.

"Incoming," an ensign shouted as the bridge CIWS guns opened up on the fighters, destroying them all only to reveal a squadron of Hyena bombers coming right behind them with missile bays opening.

"Close blast doors, now," Commander Hess ordered just before the Hyenas launched their missiles, thick durasteel armour plating with Mandalorian Armour reinforcement slammed loudly into place and holographic images of what was happening outside were laid over the viewports, showing dummy missiles impacting the shields, not even weakening them in the slightest, but the shield rippled like water from the impacts, but the Hyenas kept coming.

"Enemy bombers have begun making suicide runs," Commander Hess yelped in surprise as a pair of bombers crashed into the side of one of the corvettes, hitting with such force that they shoved it off course. The Hyenas attacking the _Challenger_ gunned their engines and targeted the command bridge, charging straight through the massive barrage of weapons fire that the _Challenger's_ CIWS put up, downing all but two who impacted hard into the shields, weakening the bridge shields significantly.

"Don't tell me you had those droids programmed to do suicide runs on us?" Jack asked his father.

"No, I didn't, I just wanted to test the new CIWS system with a mass fighter attack with fighters, bombers and interceptors, nothing like this," he responded fearfully.

"Well we can't deploy fighters with those droids flying this close to the ship, they'd be picked off in seconds," said the Commodore, fearing that the droids would ram his fighters while they launched, plus the particle shields would have to be lowered, leaving the launch bay open to attack.

He quickly opened a channel to the battle group. "Corvettes move closer to the capital ships, but do not get too close, I want you to cover our blind spots while the _Challenger_, _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ engage the capital ships directly, remove those droid fighters from my space," the Commodore ordered.

The six corvettes acknowledged and moved closer on the flanks of the three capital ships, firing every weapon at their disposal, destroying dozens of droid fighters in seconds, but it was like being attacked by a swarm of bees, there were so many of them. They soon closed to weapons range to the Lucrehulk and its frigate escort, their bow chasers charged up and ready to fire.

"We're now at optimal range," Commander Hess reported.

"Fire!"

In an instant four bright blue beams of energy erupted from the three ships, two from the _Challenger_ and one from each of the Acclamator IIIs. The two beams from the _Challenger_ converged upon the Lucrehulk battleship, piercing the shields and destroyed its bridge, taking out the droids command and control. At the same time the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ each fired upon a frigate, their powerful beams cut straight through their shields and cored through them from bow to stern, setting off secondary explosions which began in the engineering section and blossomed out forwards, consuming both droid vessels.

"Helm, change course twenty degrees to starboard, port gunners standby to give that ship a full broadside of all portside main gun batteries," the Commodore ordered.

"Aye sir, changing course," reported the helmsman.

The _Challenger_ began turning, showing off its profile to the crippled Lucrehulk. As soon as the _Challenger_ turned twenty degrees her portside gun batteries opened up, each battery had four turbolaser turrets, and each turret had three cannons. They fired at full power, unleashing a dozen megatons of energy with each shot, and each cannon fired three shots per second, the space between the two ships quickly became filled with a firestorm of blue energy, quickly tearing down the remaining shields of the Lucrehulk then blasted at the ship's armoured hull until it failed, massive explosions rippled across the hull as the _Challenger_ continued to relentlessly destroy its target until one could see the inner workings of the ship.

"Commodore I suggest you cease fire, I think you've neutralized those ships," said Jack's father as he watched a ten million credit investment get ripped apart.

Jack merely nodded and said, "All gunners cease fire, all weapons safe."

The batteries ceased fire instantly and went to idle.

"Damage report, Commander?"

"No major damage among the battle group, a few strained shield generators on the corvettes, but nothing crippling and all ships report fully combat capable despite the overzealousness of our droid opponents," Commander Hess responded.

"Very good, Mister Hawks if you would join me in the CIC, you too Mister Blissex," said Jack intensely as he rose up from his command chair, a personal touch he had done even before the Challenger was upgraded, he didn't see why he had to keep standing all the time on the bridge. He ordered the CIC cleared, not wanting any witnesses to the ass chewing he was about to give these two.

"Alright, what the hell happened out there, this was supposed to be an exercise, not a battle between life and death, these are veteran crews, but they just recently got these ships back, so tell me, **what the hell happened?**"

Blissex and Hal Hawks exchanged nervous glances then Blissex put forth his theory.

"I believe that the tactical droid reverted to its original programming."

"What original programming?"

"It was originally programmed to fight this ship, and its mission orders stated that your ship was to be destroyed by any means necessary even sacrifice itself so long as it ensured the destruction of the _Challenger_."

"I knew that I was on the Separatist hit list, but I never heard of anything like this. I know that they employed bounty hunters to hunt down good captains and certain high level officers, but to commit resources to destroy just one ship?"

"Not massive resources, just a tactical droid that was programmed from the very beginning to best you," said Blissex.

"It didn't exactly live up to expectations though..."

"This tactical droid had only some disarmed warships and fighters at its disposal, two of which you destroyed and the last one you've practically scrapped, did you really have to do that son?"

"Sorry dad, old war time instincts, I used to scrap ships like that for a living you know."

"Mister you are making my hair go more grey by the day," Hal said exasperated.

"That just means I'm doing my job," Jack responded cheekily, giving everyone a good laugh.

"On a more serious note I just received a message from Admiral Rod, he says the new base at Bespin has been completed ahead of schedule, my battle group has been ordered to take up station there and to be placed directly under his command."

"I thought you were supposed to go on a six month patrol of the Core Worlds before heading out to the Outer Rim?" Hal queried.

"That was before the various delays we had with the refit of the _Challenger_ and the other ships, our patrol got taken up by another battle group. We'll drop you off back at the Shipyards then head out. Has Kayla's surgeries been completed?"

"The last series of treatments to her DNA has been completed and she should have completely recovered by now, she's just waiting for you back at the shipyard," said Hal smiling, he had been among the first to have seen her, right after the doctor, and even under her bandages the changes were apparent.

"Very good," said Jack smiling as well. He hadn't seen her for almost a year, three months of strenuous surgery and genetic modification and the nine previous months before that she had mostly spent in seclusion in her quarters. 'Meditating on the Force in an attempt to find my purpose,' she had said, though Jack suspected she was mostly grieving the only way she knew how, plus he knew for a fact that she was having terrible nightmares, having walked in on her in the medical bay once to check up on her to see her thrashing in her bed and only being able to wake up to his touch and the sound of his voice.

"I won't keep you anymore, and my crew needs to get back into the CIC," said Jack, and strolled out of the CIC towards his Command Chair, settling in and watched as they approached the Hawks Shipyard, which still evoked feelings of home for him every time he saw it. He walked his father and mister Blissex down to the hangar deck.

The hangar deck was huge, much larger than on a standard sized Venator, this was the main difference between the _Challenger_ and other ships of her class, her enormous size, being roughly the same design as the standard Venator she was as big as the Imperator, now known as the Imperial, class Star Destroyer.

There had been some considerable changes to the layout of the ship. Now every twenty metres thick armoured bulkheads were in place that would slam in place to seal off damaged sections of the launch and hangar deck, to prevent the spread of fire and explosions.

Jack and his father said their goodbyes and left in a new Lambda class shuttle, one of several that the Challenger had received to replace the old assault shuttles, though Jack had kept a few that had been modified for boarding purposes. Minutes later the same shuttle returned and Jack waited excitedly for its occupant to come down the ramp. Soon the atmosphere inside the shuttle equalized with the _Challenger_ and the ramp lowered, landing with a soft thud down on the deck and down the ramp its only passenger came out, a young Twi'lek with a strong seductive figure, her skin a dark shade of blue, darker than her previous complexion. Her lekku, head tails, had swirling intricate designs tattooed on them. The process of getting them tattooed must have been extremely painful for her since the Lekku of a twi'lek are very sensitive. She wore soft opaque black veils over most of her body with tight fitting black armless leather shirt and very short leather skirt underneath, leaving very little to the imagination.

"Hello Kayla," said Jack in greeting.

"Nice to see you again, Commodore," she responded in her seductive accent, bowing respectfully, though there was also a slight mocking quality to it as she bowed, the bow also showed off her ample cleavage without seeming to bulge out.

"Easy there Kayla, no need to over act it," said Jack as he took her up in a hug, which she gladly returned.

"Anymore bad dreams?" he asked quietly.

"A few," she said as they began walking towards the turbolift at the back of the main launch bay and entered one, heading up to the command bridge. "Some are just nightmares, creations of my own fears and bad memories, but others I feel are Force visions of what is happening in the galaxy, mostly to surviving Jedi, a dark figure in armour with a mask features most of all in my visions, sometimes in my nightmares, or perhaps visions, he is hunting me down."

"Does he look anything like this?" asked Jack as he handed her a pad with a profile of a very recent public figure.

"That's him, that's the man from my nightmares and visions, wielding a red lightsabre, who is he?"

"His name is Darth Vader, the Emperor's apprentice and general enforcer, as well as my boss's boss's boss, and has the potential to possibly make our lives extremely difficult, and probably end them with just a flick of his hand. He has the full support of the Emperor and he is the one in charge of hunting down whatever Jedi survived Order 66."

Aayla studied the image of Darth Vader more closely. "In my dream this dark lord has an aura of malice, anger, but also sadness, it's as if his very soul is being tortured, but he is unable to turn away from the dark side, he's just too immersed in it to come back and survive. I believe he wants to die, but he has to obey his master."

"So the man behind the mask is little more than an obedient attack dog," said Jack.

"An attack dog with the dark side of the force at his command and most likely capable of ripping you apart with merely a thought, and the cunning to make anyone dance to his own tune," said Kayla.

"That new defence system, what was it called, the CIWS network, seemed to be most effective," said Kayla, quickly and seamlessly changing the subject, she had seen the mock fight from the Shipyard's C&C.

"Yeah, wish we had something similar back in the day, would have probably saved a lot of lives if such a defence system were implemented as standard on all Republic ships back during the war," said Jack as they entered the turbolift.

They took the turbolift up a couple of decks then walked a short distance to his quarters, with Kayla by his side. They entered and Kayla took in the Commodore's quarters. It was a simple three room State Room, its size worthy of an Admiral, but tastefully decorated, the walls a simple off-white colour with a few paintings, two depicting this very ship, one before her refit, and another after, along with a couple of landscapes obviously of his native Corellia.

"Your quarters are right through there," said Jack as he pointed out a side door that was almost invisible, a servant's door. She looked for the door controls, but they were not easy to find, until she ran her hands along the sides of the door, and to the right hand side of it was a hand shaped depression. She placed her palm over it and with a soft, almost soundless, swish it opened up to a small set of quarters, mainly just a comfortable looking bed, a simple table and a wide assortment of pillows, plus another door that led to a small bathroom.

"This was originally meant for an Admiral's steward, but since I was just a Captain, and I never requested one, so it's never been used. Besides, this way we'll be able to sell the idea that you are my personal attendant to any white coats that come snooping around," said Jack with annoyance at the mention of the Emperor's agents.

"White coats?"

"Agents from the Imperial Security Bureau, the Emperor's new secret police within the military that has just recently formed, and a pain in the ass for just about every captain and Admiral in the fleet," said Jack, his anger at the very idea of the ISB utterly disgusting him. "All to ensure the loyalty of his soldiers through fear, this damned Tarkin doctrine that most of the admiralty is getting behind of."

"I've heard of it, certainly not something the Jedi Order would have approved of, ruling through fear and threatening every world that dissents with death and destruction," said Kayla sadly.

Jack visibly pulled himself together then turned to leave. "You have free reign in both these quarters, use them however you wish, and I also have a first rate personal chef that you can call if you need anything," said Jack before he left for the command bridge.

Aayla spent a few moments looking around her small set of quarters then sat down on a large comfortable looking pillow in the middle of her room and began her meditation, finding her calm centre and looked into the Force, trying to get at least a glimpse of what is happening out in the wider galaxy, searching for her fellow Jedi, but her senses were still being clogged by the black shroud of the dark side, though it was fading and every now and then she could see a glimpse, but there was still too much darkness, too unbalanced, too skewed towards the Dark Side.

* * *

AN: I've been beating my head on this chapter for months now, and I can't seem to go any further, or improve it, so here it is, hope my readers enjoy this.


	5. Joining the Fleet

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 5: Joining the Fleet**

Bespin, a gas giant that was also the namesake for the Bespin-type gas giants that populated the galaxy, the rare ones that contained a life-zone in the upper regions of their atmospheres, it was also well known as being a big exporter of refined tibanna gas, a necessary component in weaponry and hyperdrive cores. Today the planet was hosting a large fleet of Imperial warships, ranging in size from the massive new Imperial star destroyers to the smaller Corellian corvette escorts, grouped together in small battle groups, though for each battle group there were no more than one Imperial class star destroyer, and there were only four battle groups that had such powerful vessels as their flagships.

Several light minutes out nine ships came out of hyperspace, the first were six modified Corellian corvettes then a pair of Acclamator IIIs, the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_, and finally the battle group's flagship, the _Challenger_, a modified Venator class star destroyer, though originally built to the same size as the Imperial class, which made her the biggest carrier/battle-cruiser hybrid vessel in her size category in the entire Imperial Navy, she was also one of the most heavily armed vessels in orbit, with an obvious ability to easily exchange broadsides with an Imperial class star destroyer all day long.

On the command bridge of the _Challenger_ Commodore Jack Hawks waited for the summons his new commanding officer would send his way, in the meantime he just took in the sight of what were the makings of the current Anti-Piracy Fleet of the Imperial Navy. Alongside him stood his XO constantly barking out orders to the command crew and maintaining a firm and terrifying grip on the reins of command.

"Helm, watch out for the _Blood Sun_, she's almost on top of us," she reminded the helmsmen and navigators. The _Blood Sun_ was a Victory class star destroyer, a vessel that had been designed and built at the same time as the Venator, but in greater numbers due to its simpler construction. The _Challenger_ manoeuvred underneath her and cleared her hull by several meters.

"What the hell was that ship doing outside of formation?" the XO asked one of the comm. officers.

"Sir, the _Blood Sun_ was ordered to block and challenge any vessel coming out of hyperspace by its battle group commander.

"Who?" she demanded in a cold voice that sent chills down the spines of everyone on the bridge, including the Commodore.

"Commodore Tyko Delmar of the _Triumph,_ ma'am," he answered with no sign of fear, he was used to the XO's icy disposition.

"That arrogant incompetent whelp," she said beneath her breath, which the Commodore couldn't help but notice.

"There some kind of history between you and this Commodore Delmar?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she responded reluctantly. "The man is arrogant and condescending, and has a rather bloated head about the supposed superiority of regular humans over clones and he believes just about everything coming out of the Emperor's mouthpieces. I served under him before joining your command, and the experience was not a good one."

Sensing her unease on this subject the Commodore decided to let the matter drop for now, but would make a point to bring it up again in a more private setting, maybe with Kayla present next time.

"Helm, assume a standard parking orbit, Commander I leave the ship in your capable hands while I'm away," said the Commodore as he moved towards the command bridge turbolift.

"Aye sir, I have the conn," she replied out of habit.

The Commodore quickly descended down to the main launch bay where his personal shuttle awaited, a brand new Lambda class shuttle, modified of course by his father's engineers back at the shipyards. As he approached the shuttle he noticed Kayla was standing right in front of the boarding ramp, wearing a barely regulation black Imperial duty uniform that looked extremely tight fitting on her, the trousers replaced with a short skirt just a few centimetres above the knee, and not a single piece of insignia on her uniform.

"Kayla, what are you doing?"

"I'm going with you!" she replied confidently. "Every captain and commodore that will be meeting with the admiral will bring along at least one aide each, or perhaps some entertainment, I can be both," she said as she twirled around seductively, with an electronic note pad cradled in her arms.

"Kayla, as much of an asset as you could be to me, it would still be a terrible risk, the emperor's agents might be onboard, and there are rumours that they are all Force sensitive and are at least trained enough to recognise another Force sensitive, like yourself, and then the game is up."

"I can't sense any strong Force sensitive's anywhere near here, and believe me, with this disguise and my surgical alterations to my body nobody will recognise me," she said sweetly.

"Alright, but keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything, if you so much as sense one of the emperor's agents closing in on you, I want you to get out of there as quickly as you can, and wear a service blaster instead of your lightsabres, those are illegal now you know," said Jack seriously as he noticed she had strapped her light sabres to her boots.

She removed her two lightsabres from her boot holsters with much regret as the two of them got onboard the shuttle. The commodore ordered the flight crew to launch the shuttle while they made themselves comfortable in the rear passenger compartment, which was rather tastefully decorated.

"Another one of your father's original modifications," Kayla asked.

"Yes, my father always enjoyed having these shuttles decked out with various luxuries. Sometimes I think he believes that someday there'll be a show on the Holonet about ship customization," said Jack.

The two got comfortable and seconds later the shuttle was speeding out of the _Challenger's_ main launch bay, with a pair of Republic Z-95 Headhunters from the _Challenger_ as escort following close by on its flanks.

"I see a lot of ships out there," commented Kayla as she looked out through the projected holographic windows that lined the sides of the shuttle's passenger compartment.

"Yes, the admiral has managed to call together a large number of ships for this Anti-Piracy Fleet he has been working to build up. Most of them are Clone Wars veterans, but I've heard that a few are newer, greener commanders with little command experience, and one or two Imperial stooges that just see this as another bump up the ladder of their careers."

The shuttle and its escorts continued through the vast throng of ships, the pilots followed the provided flight plan from the local Imperial Starbase. The shuttle dipped into the atmosphere of Bespin and quickly descended into the life zone, where the clouds were coloured a dark iron red from the rising sun. As the shuttle cleared a large formation of clouds the Imperial base came into view. It was a long fifteen kilometre high core cylinder with a large oval disk section at the top over ten kilometres across. As they came closer they could see that unlike Cloud City, which had a large cityscape in the centre at the top, there was a single tall tower, the Air Traffic Control centre for the base, and below the disk were several cluster of ion plasma rocket engines, the same type used on Imperial Star Destroyers, obviously built to be mobile, Jack noted.

They were quickly directed to land in one of the topmost landing bays, their escort was directed to another landing bay for fighters. The shuttle glided gently through the doors to the bay and was further directed by a set of internal guidance beams to their designated landing area, landing almost completely on automatic, the pilots handled the final landing and extended the landing gear. With a slight thump the shuttle was down, the landing gear taking the full weight of the shuttle.

The boarding ramp lowered and Jack and Kayla exited, with her being two or three steps behind the Commodore, a respectful distance for an aide. A silver protocol droid approached the shuttle.

"I am TC-147 at you service, the admiral is expecting you, follow me please" said the droid in its female programmed voice. It led them out of the hangar bay and into the corridors. The interior was somewhat different than on standard Imperial bases, instead of the usual durasteel grey the walls were painted white and had intricate designs that looked to be etched into the metal walls, with the occasional plant or tasteful artwork to break up the monotony.

"This looks more like the high end part of Cloud City than a military base," Kayla commented quietly.

"I heard that the admiral had this place commissioned at the beginning of the last year of the war and had brought in the same company that built Cloud City to design and build it," said Jack as they walked into a turbolift that took them up a few levels, then the protocol droid continued at its brisk pace down another series of corridors, until they came to a large set of blast doors that opened as they approached, behind the doors was a large conference room with a big round table with twenty seats surrounding it with a large holo-projector in the centre of it.

Within the room were several captains and commodores standing around in small groups around the room. They all turned to see who the newcomer was and were surprised by the presence of a twi'lek in an Imperial uniform, though one that barely followed regulations and had no rank insignia, in today's Imperial Navy there were almost no aliens except for a privileged few.

A young blonde female lieutenant came in from a side door. She then walked over to the round table and banged with a small gavel, bringing everyone to the table. "This meeting is classified, gentlemen, Admiral Carth Rod." From the same door came the admiral in his normal dark grey day uniform with full insignia.

"At ease people, please take your seats," the admiral gestured to everyone in the room, everyone quickly taking their appointed seat. Commodore Hawks quickly found his seat just two chairs away from the admiral, with Kayla standing just a couple of feet behind and to the right of his chair with a notepad in her hands, her eyes taking in everything within the conference room.

"People the empire is now facing a real threat right now, a threat that has been growing even greater in the past year since the end of the Clone Wars, there has been a steady increase in pirate attacks on colonies, outposts and civilian convoys in the Mid- and Outer Rim-Territories," said the admiral. "The Emperor has given me the duty of removing this threat, to that end I have decided to form several independent battle groups that will be on a constant roaming patrol across the Outer Rim, to engage and destroy these pirates. We will also be working alongside Imperial Intelligence who will be providing up-to-date intelligence on each pirate gang and organisation."

"Admiral, why can't Intelligence just give the info to Fleet Command and they send a Star Destroyer to clear the pirates out?" a younger commodore with a pleasant face, but with an arrogant attitude asked.

"Because a single large warship isn't a proper response, Commodore Delmar" the admiral responded calmly, but with a slight measure of annoyance at the younger officer's attitude. "Yes a Star Destroyer has the fire power and the troops to take a planet, but according to recent intelligence various pirate outfits have managed to get a hold of a lot of Separatist war materials, everything from B1 battle droids to fully fledged Lucrehulk class battleships," continued the admiral. Many of the veterans, including Commodore Hawks, remembered how tough those ships were to take down, often requiring entire flotillas of star destroyers to take just one of them down.

"Does Intelligence have any targets for us," another commodore asked, who was an older Clone Wars veteran with dark skin and a slightly greying hairline and beard.

"Intelligence has already found several smaller pirate gangs, which are already being dealt with by Special Forces operatives already on the ground, and regular fleet units are already underway to clean up. What we are going after are the more dangerous ones, like this character," the admiral brought up a holo of a human male with an unassuming face with light blue, almost grey, eyes, light brown hair and wearing a dark nerf-skin leather jacket over a black shirt with black work trousers and boots.

"His name is Arulo Csalas. He used to be a Fleet Captain in the Separatist Navy, commanding one of their Providence class dreadnoughts, and commands the loyalty of several organic Separatist Captains. When Lord Vader shut down the droid army he and his fellow captains managed to somehow reactivate them and reprogram to serve their needs. These Separatists have been raiding the Outer Rim territories for the past six months, and we have been given the task of taking his little band of warships out of action. Capture if possible, but destroy if necessary. Commodore Hawks, he will be your target, as soon as Imperial Intelligence has a location for this scum, I want you to come crashing down on him and his band like a Krayt Dragon."

"Aye sir," Commodore Hawks said simply as he accepted the assignment, seeing no problem in taking down this particular pirate as he looked over this human pirate's recent exploits, as well as his war record on his own computer pad. The man had been a menace during the war, his small group of powerful ships would cruise the space lanes and jump on unsuspecting merchant ships, acting as independent commerce raiders and got filthy rich doing it.

The meeting continued, though Jack only paid half an ear's attention to what was being said as he studied his assignment, which amounted to just patrolling the Corellian Run and wait for a distress signal or information from Imperial Intelligence about where this warlord's base of operations were.

The meeting winded down after an hour and every commodore was beginning to leave the conference room.

"Commodore Hawks, would you and your assistant stay a while, I have something to discuss with you, gentlemen, I'll be having a private word with every one of you over the coming day, so don't feel left out," said Admiral Rod.

"Hey Hawks, say hello to Commander Hess for me," said Commodore Delmar with a leer on his face. "I expect her to report to my ship in a few days to catch up," he continued with more than a disturbing look in his eyes.

"We'll see," Jack muttered as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the retreating commodore's back.

"It's good to see you again Jack, I see that the upgrades to the _Challenger_ and the rest of your ships went off without a hitch, and I see you've recruited a little bit of arm candy, a very nice specimen," said the admiral as he appraised his young twi'lek aide. "Let's step into my office," he continued as he led them through a side door, revealing a large office with a vast holographic screen behind his large and expensive looking wooden desk, his own aide following just behind them who sealed the door behind them. He walked behind the desk and got out a small device which activated with a sharp shrilling sound.

"Now we can talk privately, I've swept my office for bugs twice already today, but better that we don't take any chances, I take it you've heard what happened to some of our old colleagues?"

"I've heard several rumours that some of the old guard in the navy and army were being forcibly retired, one or two have been arrested and charged with treason, on the grounds of sedition and sheltering Jedi," said Jack.

"Then it's a good thing that Aayla here changed her identity as well as her look, otherwise ISB agents would have quickly had you and your senior officers in chains before the day was out," said Admiral Rod, much to the surprise of both Jack and Aayla. "It wasn't that hard to figure out, her first name for one, a simple small change to it, as well as changing her last name, to Kayla Macula was a good start, as well as some small alterations, like some work to her face and the intricate tattoos on her lekku," the admiral said as he sat behind his desk. "Nia, would you be a dear and bring some Corellian brandy for me and the Commodore, I'm sure that we both need some to get through this meeting."

"Of course admiral," his aide said as she went over to a nearby cabinet and brought out a long oval shaped bottle with a Corellian Eagle emblazoned upon it, along with a pair of small tumblers and set them upon the admiral's desk and proceeded to pour out a small measure of the amber liquid. "Do you take it straight-up or with ice, Commodore?" she asked.

"Straight-up," said Jack, the occasion definitely called for no ice.

The Admiral nodded in approval. "I see that you still know how to take good liquor."

"I've managed to secrete a few bottles in my quarters for special occasions, and I have on good authority that my CMO has stocked up a good deal for 'medicinal purposes,' of course he never drinks on the job," responded Jack as he took the tumbler and breathed in the heady aroma of the well made brandy.

"To old comrades-in-arms," the admiral intoned as he raised his tumbler in salute, Jack followed suit soon after, and both took a quick sip each, both felt the burning liquid go down and settled comfortably in their bellies.

"I take it you both heard what happened on Kessel?" the admiral asked.

"Mostly rumours and propaganda, we heard that Vader found and exterminated a nest of some fifty Jedi, but I don't really put much stock into those rumours, I've seen Jedi fight, and I can tell you right now that fifty fully trained Jedi Knights would definitely be too much for Darth Vader to handle," said Jack confidently.

"It's true, no single warrior, not even Anakin Skywalker, could best fifty Jedi in a head-on battle," said Kayla, she knew that even with the Dark Side of the Force as his ally, no one warrior could best fifty.

"You'd be correct, there were only eight Jedi, and it was a trap for him, and he didn't come away from it entirely unscathed, at least that's according to my agents aboard Darth Vader's flagship," said the admiral. "It appears that one of the Jedi managed to throw his lightsabre at him and compromised his helmet, and exposed one of his eyes." The admiral pulled up an image on a nearby holo-monitor, displaying a still footage of Darth Vader, with his armour visibly damaged, various cuts and burns, and a piece of his helmet, that used to cover his right eye was missing.

"The quality may not be the best, but it was enough for me to conduct a retinal identification scan," said the admiral as he zoomed in on the sith lord's exposed eye, and a retinal scan image of it took its place, filling half of the monitor, the other half with another retinal scan.

"The scan on the left belongs to our new sith lord, the other belongs to a rather famous jedi, now watch." The two scans overlapped each other and lined up perfectly. "There is no mistake, that man is, or was, Anakin Skywalker!"

"WHAT?" shouted Kayla in shock, it couldn't be, it was impossible. "That is not Skywalker, I knew him, I fought beside him on more than one occasion, he would never betray the Republic or the jedi," she said vehemently.

"Retinal scans don't lie Master Secura, that is Anakin Skywalker, or at least his body, we don't know what Palpatine did to him to change him like this, one of the few who may know is Jedi Master Yoda."

"I heard that the emperor has put up a large bounty on the old Grand Master, fifty million credits for his head, dead or alive, preferably alive," said Jack. "I say good luck to any bounty hunter that tries to take that jedi's head; I saw some battle footage of what he was capable of from the Battle of Coruscant."

"Well, he is the only known surviving jedi that might know what happened to him, I believe we would all like to have the answer to that question," replied the admiral just before he took another sip of his brandy, with Jack following suit. "Regarding your battle group Jack, I am reinforcing it with more ships." The admiral called up a list of ship names on the holo-monitor, cancelling out the image of the retina scans.

"The Intrepid, a modified Acclamator class frigate turned escort carrier. Five new and improved Dreadnought class heavy cruisers, based upon your father and mister Blissex's test-bed ship, the Vigilance, Defiant, Avenger, Valiant, and Defiance, and finally four of the newest Nebulon-B escort frigates. Take a look at the ship commanders' names, any you recognise?"

Jack took a closer look at the holo-monitor. "Most of these names are from my old squadron, back when I commanded a Corellian fighter squadron before the war. I lost touch with most of these people years ago."

"Then you know them. Well enough to possibly trust them with your life?" the admiral asked him.

"I would trust them with my life, but I will need some time to get to know them again before I entrust them with my, our little secret," he corrected himself.

"Fair enough Jack, but sooner or later you're going to have to bring them in on it."

"I know," said Jack as he took another long sip of his brandy.

"Until we can make our move the best thing we can do is walk the company line, at least for now, until we can hopefully gather enough allies, man power and equipment to win," said the admiral gravely.

"Another galactic civil war," said Jack ominously, the very thought turned both their stomachs, though the alcohol gave them a warm feeling in the bottom of their guts.

After a few moments of silence the admiral took a large swig from his tumbler he said, "I noticed earlier that Commodore Delmar made a rather lewd comment about your XO. I admire your self-restraint, if it had been me and I was your age, I would have at least have decked him. Was she under his command at one time?"

"Yes sir, she served under him for almost six months before she signed on with me. Before she came to him she had a brilliant record, she would've made captain by now, but Commodore Delmar effectively cut down her options by black-listing her for the disaster on Tibrin. He charged her with striking a superior officer and put her in the brig before the battle, and blamed his own mistakes upon the injury that she caused him, though considering that it happened in his quarters and well before the battle she was acquitted, but no other captain would have her," said Jack. "All she told me about her time under his command was that it was an unpleasant experience for her, but my gut tells me that there is more to it."

"Want my advice kid?" asked the admiral, all Jack did was nodded his head slightly. "Don't push her for answers, she may not open up to you, but she may open up to someone more friendly," he indicated Jack's companion. "I've found over the years that a jedi can be a most attentive listener," he said as he gulped down the last of his drink. Sensing the meeting was soon coming to a close Jack followed suit and downed the last remaining millimeters of brandy in his tumbler and felt the potent liquid go down his gullet.

"How was the brandy?" the admiral asked smiling.

Jack responded a little hoarsely, "Strong sir, very strong."

"Well, I'd better let you get on with your duties, you've got a battle group to run and you also have some old friends to reacquaint yourself with."

"Aye sir," said Jack as he gingerly rose up from his chair and saluted, Kayla followed his lead and saluted as well then walked out of the admiral's office. The two of them pointedly ignored the curious and jealous looks of the various commodores that were waiting for their turn with the admiral as they passed the station's bar. One commodore in particular was eying Kayla with a leering eye, which gave Kayla a very bad feeling through the Force.

"Sir, I've got a really sick feeling about Commodore Delmar, his mind is dark and twisted," she whispered quietly as they continued along.

"I see I'm not the only one who's got a bad feeling about him," said Jack. He could almost feel the man's jealousy as a bad smell. As they were about to continue on to the docks, Jack spotted an old friend. "Stay close to me," he ordered as he headed towards the bar and walked up beside an older officer with dark skin and a small number of grey hairs were showing through his dark hair.

"Hello Jack, long time no see," the officer said smiling as he looked in the mirror behind the bar to see who was behind him, then tossed back his small glass of liquor. "Ten long years since you sat in my classroom as a fresh-faced cadet, mind introducing me to your friend?"

"Of course, this is Kayla Macula, my personal aide, Kayla this is Commodore Baran Tisztelet, one of my old teachers at the academy, he was the one who taught me starship combat tactics and strategy."

"You certainly put it to good use when the navy gave you the _Challenger_, while I'm stuck on the _Concordia_," said Commodore Tisztelet bitterly. "I was supposed to be getting one of the _Challenger's_ sister-ships, but of course in the Chancellor's, oh excuse me, Emperor Palpatine's opinion the improved Venator class was a waste of resources," he said, barely covered his little slip. "Even though it corrected a number of design flaws in the previous incarnation, now the Empire is building those Sith cursed Imperial class Star Destroyers, and I'll be more than likely forced to retire when they decommission the Concordia."

"And well you should," piped up the younger Commodore Delmar who was sitting at a circular table with four of his ship captains who were playing a game of sabacc, the good commodore having won a fair share of hands by the look of the rather large pile of Imperial credit ingots, as well as the sour looks on the captains faces. "You're ships are now just a relic of a bygone era, my _Triumph_ is far superior to your _Concordia_, and the _Challenger_, they should both be hauled away as garbage and sold for scrap," he said loudly and much to the two Commodore's consternation the captains laughed with their captain. "Waiter, another round for me and my friends here," he called out to a waitress who had just delivered a round of drinks to another group.

"Coming right up," said the waitress, a short, but leggy blonde wearing a black and white pinstriped skirt and blouse uniform with black shoes. She soon returned with the drinks on a tray, and handed them out one by one, the captains first and the commodore last. When she came to him his arm went around her waist and he pulled her into his lap.

"Why don't you sit with us for a little while doll, have a drink with us," he said leeringly as his other hand began to wander.

She slapped his hand away. "I'm on duty sir," she rebuffed softly then made to get up, but he held fast.

"Come on girl, don't be like that."

To everyone's surprise the old barman behind the bar shouted, "Hey you leave my waitresses alone, and I don't care what your rank is. If you don't leave them alone I will call security."

"Shut it old man, you have no authority over me," said Delmar arrogantly.

"Maybe, but I don't think the admiral would appreciate you mistreating any of the station's waitresses," countered Commodore Tisztelet. "And I don't think any of us honourable gentlemen would approve of such behaviour either."

All around the bar the other officers who were relaxing nodded in agreement and cast disapproving looks in Commodore Delmar and his cronies direction. Seeing that he was surrounded he let the waitress go and went back to his drink and card game.

"Officers like Delmar is what's wrong with the Emperor's new navy," said Tisztelet. "Gentlemen like us seem to be a dying breed. Men of integrity and honour are being replaced with self-serving yes men and toadies. They're well trained, but their arrogance is sickening."

Jack nodded in agreement as he and Kayla each took a seat on either side of him. "I couldn't agree more, old friend. It seems not even Admiral Rod's fleet is immune from the plague that's spreading through the fleet."

"Yes, and it's bastards like Delmar that give good, honest navy officers a bad name," said Tisztelet as he took a sip of his drink. "Oh, where are my manners, mind joining me for a drink?" he asked.

"Sorry old man, I've got to get back to my battle group, we're getting in some new ships today, the admiral wants me to integrate them into my battle line as quickly as possible," said Jack apologetically as both he and Kayla reluctantly began to leave the bar.

"Maybe next time when our ships are in port we could partake in some Corellian Brandy together, give you another shot at drinking me under the table," Tisztelet teased.

"Maybe next time, but remember, I'm not the raw cadet you once taught, my tolerance has certainly gone up as yours has dulled with age," Jack fired back as he and his aide left the bar. As they were leaving through the exit one of Delmar's captains stood in their way, a large and bulky man whom stood a good four inches above Jack's six foot stature, and was heavily muscled.

"Move aside captain," Jack ordered.

"Can't do that sir," replied.

"Let me make something perfectly clear, that wasn't a suggestion that was an order, captain," said Jack as he stepped up to the much larger man.

"He won't move without my express command, Hawks, unless you were to agree to share in your good fortune," said Commodore Delmar in his pleasant, yet oily voice. "How about you give me that slave of yours for a few hours, I'm sure that she wouldn't mind servicing five strong human males," he continued as he mentally undressed Kayla with his eyes.

"I don't share my property with anyone, much less you, we both find you repulsive and I don't want your slimy hands all over her, now move aside captain before security arrives, barkeep, I assume the marines are on their way?"

"Yes sir, they should be here in another thirty seconds."

"That's how long you have before I have the marines throw you all into the brig, they are under the admiral's authority, and that means you cannot order them around as easily as your own troops, so I suggest you move, now!" said Jack in a deadly calm voice. The captain glanced worriedly at his commodore. He got no help there, and since Commodore Hawks didn't appear to be bluffing he decided to move aside, just in time to see a squad of station marines walk into a bar.

"We heard that there was a problem here," said the squad leader.

"Not anymore, just a small misunderstanding between folk, good day gentlemen," said Jack as he and Kayla left the bar. "Let's get back to the ship, before the urge to shoot Commodore Delmar becomes too tempting," he continued as he looked around for a mouse droid. He spotted a dozen of them a little further down the corridor docked to their recharging ports. He picked out one which was programmed as a guide. "Droid, lead us back to hangar bay 44," Jack ordered.

With a series of short beeps the little droid uncoupled from its docking station then lead them back to the hangar where their shuttle was waiting, boarded, then flew out of the hangar.

* * *

AN: sorry for the long wait, got distracted by other stories and vacation in Italy. I hope everyone enjoys.


	6. War Game

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 6: War Game  
**

Soon enough the shuttle and its fighter escort arrived back aboard the _Challenger_ handled expertly by their pilots and guided in by computer controlled guidance beacons, the fighters landed in the main hangar while the shuttle was directed to the starboard landing bay.

As the shuttle's two passengers disembarked they noticed Commander Hess walking towards them as they came down the ramp. She stopped a couple of metres from them and saluted the commodore, which he returned.

"Permission to come aboard commander?" he asked, the ancient custom easily rolled off his tongue.

"Permission granted sir, and welcome aboard," she responded smiling. "How was the meeting with the admiral?"

"Informative," he answered as the trio began walking away from the shuttle. "We'll be staying here for a couple of days while we await some new additions to the battle group, so I need you to set up a series of drills for the crew on all the ships, I want them as sharp as a laser when they arrive."

"What kind of additions will we be getting?" she asked as both curiosity and worry welled up.

"We'll be getting ten ships, the Acclamator class escort carrier _Intrepid_, five Dreadnought class cruisers and four of the brand new Nebulon-B escort frigates," he said as he handed over a data-disk to his xo. "This contains all the details on our new brothers-in-arms."

"The _Intrepid_, that's Captain Rothgild's ship," she said in delighted surprise.

"You know him?" Kayla asked.

"Not him, her," answered Commander Hess.

Kayla's brows rose halfway up her forehead. "I didn't know that there were any female captains in the Imperial Navy."

"There were in the Republic Navy, though their numbers are dwindling at a rapid pace," said Jack as they continued towards his quarters.

"She was a couple of years ahead of me at the Corellian military academy, and many of us looked up to her as a role model," said Commander Hess. "I even requested a berth aboard her ship, before you offered me the position as xo of the Challenger, sir."

"I didn't know that," said Jack in surprise.

"When I got blacklisted by Delmar I guess she believed the rumours more than my record."

"I think I'll have a little talk with Captain Rothgild when she arrives," said Jack as he and his two companions continued down the corridors to his quarters. "After you've disseminated the information to the other ship captains and we've conducted today's training drills I would like a word with you in private, my quarters please."

"Aye sir," she said as she saluted and headed up to the Command Bridge while Jack and Kayla continued on to his quarters.

* * *

On the Command Bridge the mood was relaxed, but also busy as several techs and officers were at their stations as they conducted the business of running a vessel as large and complex as the _Challenger_. The opening of the turbolift doors announced the arrival of Commander Hess, and the crew instantly became even more focused on their work, her very presence seemed to inspire everyone to do better, just to escape her cold fury.

"Status report, Commander," she demanded of the Officer-of-the-Watch, Lieutenant-Commander Nicho Patrice. A fellow Corellian in his late twenties, he had dark brown hair, was over six foot tall, and had unusual green eyes.

"Situation normal sir," he reported. "Our CAP has been launched and we have secured a perimeter around the battle group. Every vessel, be they civilian or military is to be challenged by the CAP or one of our warships, as per your orders."

"Very good commander, continue to perform like this and you may have a ship of your own in a few years time," she said to the surprise of everyone, the xo gave a complement? She never complements anyone, not even the commodore.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," said Commander Patrice stiffly as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

After a few seconds of taking in the surprise of the young man before her, and enjoying it like a fine roasted corellian steak, she moved on into the crew-pit to the comm. techs. "Communications, I want the contents of this data-disk on the ship's and battle-group's information network, and send personal copies to all ship commanders," she ordered.

"Aye sir," said the tech as Commander Hess easily walked out of the crew-pit and over to the forward viewports and took in a look at the view outside, the dusty iron-red gas giant of Bespin span below them and several of its rocky moons could be seen floating in their orbits, while several millions of tons of military hardware sat in tranquil silence outside, with only the occasional fighter or shuttle buzzing between them.

She turned away from the view and cleared her throat to get the crew's attention. "People, within the next twenty-four hours ten new ships are going to be arriving to join us. Information about our new comrades will be in the ship's data-banks within a few minutes. The Commodore wants this crew to be as sharp as a laser, so for the next twelve hours all your collective asses are now mine to do with as I please as we conduct battle group wide training drills. The last scramble drill we ran was not the worst I've seen, but I intend for us to do better, much better," she finished with an evil smirk that gave everyone on the bridge a really cold shiver down their collective spines.

"Helm, move us out of orbit, tell the rest of the battle-group to follow us, we'll conduct our exercises in the system's local asteroid field, and this time I want every single drill to be performed as if it was a real combat situation. Don't worry folks, by tomorrow we should have the rust knocked off your shoulders, however if you don't show marked signs of improvement I will have you for lunch. End of speech. Let's go to work," she ordered as she strode over to the command chair and sat down, she mentally noted to herself that it was remarkably comfortable. Maybe she could convince the commodore to get a chair for the xo position.

* * *

At the same time the small battle-group began to break orbit, each one in perfect formation, with _Challenger_ in the centre and the Acclamator III frigates _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ on its flanks with four of the six CR90 Corvettes flying in close formation to the capitals to provide anti-fighter cover to their blind-spots while the last two took point, along with the CAP fighters. As the _Challenger_ and its battle-group approached the local asteroid field the ship's flight-deck was a scene of barely controlled chaos as flight mechanics began to fuel and arm the ships complement of fighters and bombers for the battle-group combat exercises. In the hour leading up to the exercises the 35 fighter and bomber squadrons of the _Challenger_ were receiving their final mission briefings. In one particular fighter squadron known as War-Dog squadron which was composed of Z-95 Headhunters, piloted mostly by clones, except for four distinct individuals. All four were newcomers to the ship, having arrived as replacements after the squadron lost a good number of its most senior pilots to the military flight academies being set up all over the galaxy to serve as flight instructors.

These four were from various planets across the galaxy. The flight leader was Lieutenant Darren "Blaze" Dunewalker from Tatooine, a dark haired young man with some serious talent. His second was Lieutenant Kei "Edge" Nagase from Eriadu, another talented flyer who also happened to be female, one of the few who managed to get into flight-school on her male-dominated planet. She has short black hair and slanted dark brown, almost black, eyes. The third was a big burly man from Ord Mantell, Lieutenant JG Alvin "Chopper" Davenport. Last but not least was Ensign Jason "Archer" Grimm from Coruscant, a scrawny young man with a short crop of curly red hair and barely looked old enough to shave.

These four were in at the forefront of the squadron leader's mind, Captain Snow, a Jango clone with four shortly cut lines of white hair along the top and back of his head, as he took in the sight of the squadron he had been recently given command of. He had previously only been in command of one of the squadron's three flights of four fighters, but he knew his duties as a commanding officer.

As he took the podium in the squadron's briefing room everyone rose up to stand attention, and he was glad to have such men, and woman, under his command.

"At ease people, as you know there have been some changes to this squadron and a number of the other squadrons on this ship, many of our best have been shipped off to other commands or transferred to the new Imperial Academies that the Empire is setting up across the galaxy, to be replaced by recently trained clones who have only just finished training, or as in our case we got four natural born replacement pilots. These four I might add may be an eclectic mix, but for those who don't know yet, these four are what's left of the Razgriz Squadron, one of the most decorated units of natural born pilots, so I hope you my brothers have made them feel welcome," said Captain Snow, much to the embarrassment of Razgriz Flight and there was a gentle buzz of murmuring among the rest of the squadron.

"Let's get to the matter at hand shall we," Captain Snow continued as he had an R2 series droid project a hologram of the system they were in. "As you know during our last series of drills the Commodore and XO were not satisfied with this crew's scramble time, over three minutes to get to action stations. The battle group is heading for the local asteroid field for some real world live fire exercises to knock off some of the rust the crews have been accumulating over the last year we have been stationed on the Hawks Shipyards. Our mission today is to perform fighter escort duty for a squadron of Y-Wings as they perform bombing run exercises in among the local asteroid field. To up the ante our battle group will be going up against the _Concordia_ battle group. On paper we are roughly equal however they have more recent experience, because our ships have been in dry dock for a year, while they have been on patrol in the Outer Rim territories."

He paused for a second to let the information sink in and took in the mood of his men.

"But we haven't been idle while the rest have been working on the ships have we? No we haven't! We've been honing our skills in the Corellian asteroid fields with our new birds," Captain Snow continued as a hologram of a modified Z-95 Headhunter replaced the hologram of the local system. "You know your ships and you know the enemy you're going to fight." More holograms appeared behind him, this time of the newer V-Wing interceptors, Eta-2 Actis class interceptors and ARC-170 fighter bombers. "Our job will be to clear a path for our bombers to get their shoots in on the _Concordia_, after that we will continuously provide close support for the bombers. Now man your ships, and good hunting."

At that everyone in the squadron stood up to attention, saluted, and said "Aye aye sir!" then filed out in neat lines as they headed towards the hangar bay.

As they entered the hangar Blaze took a moment to look around the hangar and was slightly in awe at its sheer size. He had served on a Venator class before, but the hangar was almost twice the size, and it was divided into two levels, with fighters, bombers and shuttles arranged in neat rows. The lower level was designated for larger craft, like shuttles, heavy transports and landing craft, while the upper level was designated the fighter and bomber bay and had direct access to the dorsal launch bay. Seconds after arriving at the hangar Blaze and his flight got on a repulsor-lift sled which took them to their fighters. The driver, a non-clone, decided to strike up a conversation with the four pilots.

"Damn, I haven't seen a combat scramble this fast since the Clone Wars. The higher ups must be really cracking the whip on you guys, huh?"

"And you are, seaman?" asked Edge.

"Oh I almost forgot my manners, Seaman Rocco Delgado ma'am, and I'm your driver for today."

"Then step on it Seaman, I want to get to my fighter and hit space as soon as possible," said Chopper impatiently.

"As you wish sir," said Delgado as he poured on the throttle and went faster than was generally advised for a repulsor-lift sled to go on a busy flight-deck. They quickly came to the area where their fighters were being prepped for launch. The four Z-95 Headhunters were painted a shiny black with scarlet trim around the wings, engines and hull.

"Those are some sweet rides you Razgriz guys have. I'll see you around, got more deliveries to make," said Seaman Delgado as he pulled away to pick up some more passenger, while Blaze and the rest of Razgriz flight jumped into their fighters and did final checks before launch. With dull roars from their engines and repulsor-lifts they lifted off and headed through the hangar bay force-fields. As soon as they were in the launch lane the punched their engines to full power and accelerated away from the _Challenger_ in the first wave of fighters being launched.

* * *

Within the Bespin system's asteroid belt a group of fourteen ships sat waiting for their opponent. A single Venator class attack cruiser, the _Concordia_, two smaller Victory I class destroyers, the _Gladius_ and the _Gorgon_, four Carrack class light cruisers and seven CR-90 corvettes. Onboard the _Concordia_ its master and commander, Commodore Baran Tisztelet stood waiting for his enemy to come to him.

"Sir we have incoming fighters, it seems Commodore Hawks doesn't want to come in himself," reported his xo.

"He's trying to flush us out with fighter attacks. Send the corvettes _Harrier_ and _Gunslinger_ to intercept and launch Fist and Cavalier squadrons, keep Repulse and Foxtrot squadrons on hot standby. If I know Commodore Hawks he'll hit us in waves, try to break up our formation then take us down either one at a time or in small groups," said Commodore Tisztelet.

"But sir, we have a few more ships than he does, and the _Gorgon_ and _Gladius_ outgun the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ by a fair margin," his xo objected.

"Young man, I know Jack Hawks, and the one thing he doesn't do when an opponent that outnumbers and outguns him is to engage in a straight up fight. No, he'll most likely try to engage our capital ships with quick slashing bomber attacks, and you forget that the _Challenger_ carries more fighters than us and the _Gladius_ and _Gorgon_ combined. No, I will thin out his numbers first, then we will exit the asteroid field after he has committed all of his fighters to engaging us."

"Aye sir," said the xo in understanding and began to relay his commodore's orders.

A few kilometres away from the _Concordia_, the CR-90 corvettes _Harrier_ and _Gunslinger_ along with two of _Concordia's_ V-Wing squadrons broke formation from the battle-group and headed out towards the edge of the asteroid field, the two nimble corvettes almost effortlessly navigated the chaotic orbits of asteroids and debris. The two corvette's captains were experienced officers who had seen combat for much of their careers and were prepared for anything. Almost anything.

As they got further away from their battle-group there was a pair of shimmers in space, close to the surface of a large asteroid, two indescribable shapes were just sitting there, watching the two corvettes and squadrons pass them by, and saw their chance. As the V-Wings raced ahead to engage the incoming squadrons of Z-95 starfighters the shimmers suddenly became defined and their true forms took shape. They were a pair of heavily modified CR-90 corvettes, painted in the black with blue trim colour scheme of the _Challenger_ battle-group.

As one they pounced upon the _Harrier_ and _Gunslinger_ with laser cannons blazing and dummy concussion missiles launching. The captains of both corvettes were surprised by the ambush and before they could react both ships were out of the war game, the computers on both sides registered the kill shots, and they both could do nothing as the two enemy corvettes began to lend their own firepower to take apart the squadrons of V-Wings and there was nothing they could do but leave.

* * *

"It seems like our ambush worked sir," said Commander Hess happily from her position in the crew pit.

"Yes, I'm glad that the new stealth systems worked, even though holographic stealth systems aren't exactly new it certainly helps when you've got decent electronic counter-measures," said Jack from his throne-like and very comfortable command chair. He was happy for having drawn first blood in this little war game.

The idea of using holographic images overlaid a person or a ship is an idea that goes back to almost the very beginning of holographic technology, though with true cloaking technology and improvements in scanners such ideas had fallen by the wayside in recent centuries. Wallex Blissex had just now resurrected this old technology, for Jack's benefit.

"Pass my complements on to Commanders Maxwell and Landers. What are our casualties?"

"Far fewer than I expected sir, two fighters destroyed, five damaged and out of the fight, compared to the enemy who lost nearly half their fighters and two of their corvettes, I'd say we're off to a good start," reported Commander Hess. "It's a shame that the _Ghost_ and _Shadow_ are the only two corvettes in our battle-group that's been modified as stealth ships."

"Then it's time for them to make it count. Tell the _Ghost_ and _Shadow_ to go to stealth mode and follow those fighters back to their carrier, after they've marked their position I want them to cause as much havoc as they can within their lines, without exposing themselves," ordered Commodore Hawks.

"Aye sir, I'll bet those two will just love that." The last she said in near whisper to herself as she relayed the stealth corvettes orders.

* * *

"What the hell happened?" demanded Commodore Tisztelet.

_"We were ambushed sir, two corvettes appeared behind us and destroyed both us and the _Gunslinger_, then proceeded to devastate the fighter squadrons you sent with us, the incoming enemy fighter squadrons were just bait,"_ said the captain of the _Harrier_ dejectedly. _"We're complying with regulations and are now leaving the battlefield. I apologise on behalf of myself and my crew sir."_

"No apologies are necessary, Commander, you did all you could, now get out of here." He terminated transmission then began barking orders. "All ships are to tighten formation, I want overlapping fields of fire, as soon as an enemy ship pokes its nose in here I want to rain hell on its position."

"Aye aye sir."

Once again Commodore Tisztelet's commands were sent and the _Concordia_ battle-group changed formation, with the _Concordia_, _Gladius_ and _Gorgon_ in the centre, the four Carrack class light cruisers in a box formation around them and the five remaining corvettes began to slowly circle around the capital ships, while fighters were released in roaming swarms, ready to quickly intercept anything that tried to penetrate their perimeter.

Almost a half-hour passed before something happened, the first to spot something was a gunner flying in an ARC-170, when suddenly missiles seemed to erupt from seemingly nothing.

"Incoming missiles," the gunner called out and began blasting away with the two rear laser cannon turrets, blasted a few out of the sky, but one managed to slip by him and hit the starboard engine near the S-foils, though thankfully all it did was scatter orange paint, but his fighter was out of the game. "Damn it!"

"Commodore, almost an entire squadron of ARC-170s was just taken out, looks like they launched concussive missiles armed with, paint warheads?" the xo confusedly reported, normally dummy missiles would just impact the shields or armour and do no damage and just send a signal that confirmed a kill.

"Looks like Jack is letting a couple of his ship captains have a little fun. Do we have a location on the target yet?"

"Negative sir, it seems they have adopted the tactic of shoot and scoot, and it seems that there might be two stealth vessels out there sir, another squadron just reported being killed by a missile swarm on the opposite side of the battle-group."

"They're toying with us, keeping us off balance so it will be easier to use fighter attacks, nice work Jack, but let's see how your new toys handle this. Pull back all fighters close in to our ships, get them within our shield perimeters and deploy seismic charges, I want a full spread in these general areas," Commodore Tisztelet ordered as he indicated the target areas on the tactical holo-tank.

"But sir, there's nothing on our scopes."

"Commander, if I were commanding a stealth vessel I would position myself where I would get maximum cover and greatest overview of my target, and right now we're sitting ducks, time to level the playing field."

"Aye sir," said the slightly chastised xo and relayed his commodore's orders.

As quick as they could every starfighter retreated back towards the capital ships, while the Carrack class light cruisers broke away from the battle-group in pairs and moved towards the general areas where the two stealth vessels were thought to be. Small doors opened on their flanks and small oval shaped charges launched by small rockets accelerated away from them. In all sixteen charges were launched and dispersed in box-like patterns. Once they reached optimal positions they detonated, and unleashed powerful energy shockwaves that devastated the surrounding asteroids, a few of the larger ones were even split in half as the shockwaves passed through them, and shattered several of the smaller ones. Debris was scattered everywhere at high speed and every ship in the asteroid field strengthened their shields to maximum, both to weather the shockwaves and the space-avalanche of debris that was coming.

Onboard the _Ghost_ Commander Landers, the ship's master and commander, watched as the situation grew more desperate and watched as the energy shockwaves came seemingly straight for him, followed by several million tons of asteroid debris.

"Drop holographic camouflage and reroute all power to shields, looks like we're weathering this storm," he ordered, knowing the risk he was taking.

Just before the energy shockwave hit the _Ghost_ shimmered into view and the energy wave slammed into it, which knocked the ship back several hundred metres, engines strained to stabilize their position. Electricity arced across the shields as the shockwave passed, and was strained to near breaking point when the debris impacted and almost crushed them, even as they avoided the bigger pieces by the skin of their pilot's teeth they were pelted by a hailstorm of much smaller pieces.

"We're almost through, just a few more seconds," reported the sensor officer from his chair, strapped down as tight as everyone else as the ship shook as if a giant had grabbed them and was shaking them like a drinks mixer. Finally the shaking stopped, but the view outside was not a welcoming one. A Carrack class light cruiser loomed over them with guns locked and loaded.

"Helm, evasive action, get us the hell away from that ship. Weapons fire at will," Commander Landers commanded in rapid fire fashion.

"Already on it sir," replied the helm officer as he banked the ship hard to starboard and pushed the engines into the red, but none of the _Ghost's_ weapons were firing.

"Mister Rider why isn't my ship's weapons firing?" Commander Landers asked heatedly.

"I'm trying sir, it looks like we took some damage from the seismic charge detonations, as well as the asteroid debris, or at least the computer thinks so," replied Lieutenant Rider, the tactical officer.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It seems that while the ship is in full simulator mode the ship's shield stats are set for a standard CR-90 corvette, even though we haven't taken any physical damage, the war-games simulation doesn't know that and is automatically simulating our weapons as being offline."

"Damn it, who the hell devised this system?" the Commander rhetorically asked. "I don't care how you do it I want weapons back online immediately, shut down the simulator if you have to."

"But that would disqualify us from the war game, it would be the same as the ship virtually self-destructing, besides it says here that virtual weapons repairs will take approximately thirty seconds."

"Mister this is a combat situation, thirty seconds is like a lifetime in combat," said Commander Landers as enemy weapons fire opened up on them, and shook the ship as it took direct hits, though by the lightshow outside more shots were going wide than hitting. "What's going on, why aren't they hitting us? They've got us dead to rights."

"Our jamming systems are still functioning, it's throwing off their aim, twenty seconds until weapons return," said Lieutenant Rider.

"Thank the Force for small mercies, deploy decoys and sensor scramblers, I want their targeting scopes so filled with static they can't see a damned thing."

"Aye sir."

From hidden side panels on the _Ghost's_ hull small oval shaped pods were launched, some were electronic signature decoys, designed to fool sensors that they were the _Ghost_, while the rest were high powered sensor jammers, designed to confuse and disrupt every known form of scanner, except for the venerable line of sight optical tracking systems.

The captain of the light cruiser became ever more frustrated, then decided something drastic. He launched a quartet of seismic charges into the general area of where they knew the _Ghost_ was. They accelerated for their detonation points on powerful one-shot rockets and detonated. Powerful energy shockwaves knocked the _Ghost_ around but did little damage, but the jammers and decoys were destroyed, which cleared up their scopes enough for a target lock. With a quick ranging shot from one of its bow turbolaser cannons they confirmed positive lock, then went full auto on all forward guns, a barrage that even a fully shielded and undamaged _Ghost_ would not have escaped unharmed from. Even in training mode the sheer number of hits that landed on their shields still shook the ship, and the war-game simulator program automatically knocked them out.

"Sir, simulator says we're out of the fight," reported lieutenant Rider in disappointment, they were so close to escaping.

"Well you can't win every fight. Do we know what happened to the _Shadow_?"

"Negative sir, she's not on any of my scopes, either she's running silent or she's left the asteroid field," reported the sensor officer.

"No, if I know Maxwell I bet she's laying in wait somewhere running silent, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, but we can't be worrying about her now. Helm, plot a course out of the war-game's combat area, we've played our part, now it's time for the rest to do theirs."

* * *

"Commodore, we just lost the _Ghost_ sir, Commander Maxwell reports that they used seismic charges to flush them out. The _Shadow_ managed to elude them, and is now attempting to get close to the _Concordia_, I think Maxwell is trying to get some payback," reported Commander Hess.

"Order the _Shadow_ to fall back and provide surveillance on the _Concordia_ for the moment. Order the first and second waves to engage, all ships are to move forward into the asteroid field."

"But sir, he knows we're coming, he'll have the advantage," said Commander Hess worriedly.

"Maybe, but we're more or less even now, the _Ghost's_ and _Shadow's_ attacks have moved their light cruisers out of escort position, which has left those particular ships vulnerable and exposed. Take us into the asteroid field, Commander!"

"Aye sir!"

With that the rest of the _Challenger_ battle-group entered the asteroid field, moving carefully to avoid the larger asteroids and smaller chunks of rock were deflected by their shields. The corvettes were up front, using their own powerful close-range scanners to sniff out any potential ambushers, with the _Challenger_, _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ stretching out their own scanners, the scanning beams practically announcing that they were coming in.

"Sir, we're lighting this asteroid field up like a Cloud City Casino, I thought that you wanted us to go in quietly, make it harder for them to get a lock on us?" Commander Hess queried.

"We're also blinding their own scanners, all they can see are the large rocks and us. Launch all remaining fighters, I want at least three squadrons staying behind to protect the capital ships, while the rest engages the enemy fighters and capital ships."

"Aye sir, scrambling fighters!"

Less than a minute later the remaining squadrons of fighters launched from the _Challenger_, _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_. From the Challenger came 120 Z-95 starfighters, 96 Y-Wing strike-bombers, 48 ARC-170 strike fighters modified for anti-ship attacks, along with 192 Eta 2 Interceptors, while the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ launched three squadrons of V-Wings each from launch-bays on the lower hull, dropping quickly from the ship then got into escort formation with their mother-ships.

* * *

Ahead of this new wave of fighters was a flight of four black with red trim Z95 Headhunters, flying in the classical four-fingered formation, flying alongside their drab grey with Imperial Seal clone comrades, and heading straight towards the enemy ahead. Blaze looked down at his instruments and could see almost nothing on his long-range scopes, the intense scanning beams were clouding them up.

_"Hey, what are those guys back on the _Challenger_ doing, they're blinding our scopes with those intense scans of theirs,"_ said Chopper in frustration over the comm. channel.

_"Relax Chopper, they're covering our approach with those scanning beams, the _Concordia_ battle-group won't see us until we're right on top of them,"_ said Edge in a calming tone.

_"I still don't like it,"_ grumbled the large Mantellian.

_"Cut the chatter Razgriz flight,"_ ordered Captain Snow. _ "We're getting close to the target, so unless the enemy spots and engages us I want full comm. silence on all channels, understood?"_

Everyone merely keyed their comm. systems once for confirmation that the order was received and understood, and Blaze took a moment to enjoy the silence, the calm before the firestorm. He and his flight functioned as one, staying in perfect formation as they dodged around asteroids, and enjoyed the feeling of freedom flying gave them. Alas it was over quickly as they entered a mostly clear area of the asteroid field, a narrow gap between the orbital belts of asteroid fields, one of the local asteroid belts little quirks.

_"Comm. silence terminated, all fighters, weapons free, clear a road for the bombers," _Ordered Captain Snow.

_"Yeehaa, let's show these guys how we do it,"_ whooped Chopper as he accelerated ahead of formation.

"Chopper get back in formation with Archer, remember rule number one, never leave your wingman behind, or so help me when we get back to the ship I'll have you washing all of our fighters with a toothbrush. A small one," Blaze threatened, and Chopper pulled back on the throttle enough for the rest of the flight to catch up with him.

_"Sorry sir, got a little excited that's all."_

"Yes, but also remember rule number two," retorted Blaze as he accelerated slightly and rolled, lined up his laser cannons on a veritable cloud of targets and cut loose with a blistering volley of blue laser cannon fire from wingtip mounted six barrelled Z-60 rotary laser cannons, and eliminated six V-Wings in seconds.

_"Always mind your surroundings!"_ said Edge as she opened fire on a V-Wing that had managed to get on Blaze's tail. It ducked and swerved out of her cannon fire, and was forced to abandon its pursuit of Blaze's fighter. Suddenly a concussion missile left one of Edge's missile launchers, magnetically accelerated from the launch tube and its own plasma rocket motor kicked in, and scared the hell out of the clone pilot who executed a dizzying corkscrew manoeuvre and popped decoy pods to spoof the missile. Too little, too late, the missile homed in mid corkscrew and impacted just a second after it launched its counter-measures.

_"Well said you two, and nice work, now let's clear a path for our boys in the bombers!"_ ordered Captain Snow as the rest of the squadron moved ahead to the front. Seconds later the two sides fighter forces clashed, low powered laser shots crisscrossed space, and fighters split up into pairs and went after each other in a vicious dance, all jockeying for the optimum firing position.

Blaze and Edge formed up into a pair and began to clear a path, one attacking, the other defending as the situation dictated. War Dog squadron, along with several other fighter squadrons from the _Challenger_ formed a wedge of fighters and proceeded to drive a hole through the _Concordia_ battle-group's fighter screen. A squadron of twelve Z-95s accelerated ahead and ran headlong into one of the defending corvettes, which proceeded to try to blast them out of the sky. Try being the appropriate word, as they pushed their fighters engines hard and only made one high speed pass, each launching a pair of dummy concussion missiles along with sustained bursts from their wingtip mounted laser cannons, all while under the hailstorm of weapons fire, but that was just a feint. Behind the fighters lurked a squadron of eight ARC-170s who waited for the fighters that were ahead of them had passed the enemy corvette before they launched anti-ship proton torpedoes, hitting the already weakened, in real-time simulation, shields and collapsed them, leaving the ship vulnerable for a follow-up strafing run. The ARC-170s came in fast and hit hard with heavy laser cannons blazing, landing low-powered laser bolts along the entire length of the ship, taking out, virtually, all of its guns and missile launchers. As the final fighter flew past, it dropped a proton bomb from its ventral bomb bay, and hit the engineering section dead-on, eliminating the corvette from the war-game.

Seconds later dozens of fighters and bombers streamed past the 'knocked out' corvette, exploiting the hole they had made in the _Concordia_ battle-group's picket line.

"Incoming," called out one of the sensor officers down in the crew pit on the _Concordia's_ bridge, just before the first dummy proton torpedoes landed.

"All guns and batteries, reset to maximum defensive fire, all ships fire at will!" ordered Commodore Tisztelet.

In the space within which the Razgriz flight operated in the almost constant drizzle of weapons fire that flew past them suddenly became a firestorm of laser fire, crisscrossing space and in seconds a large number of _Challenger's_ fighters were eliminated from the war-game.

_"Whoa, looks like Commodore Tisztelet is stepping up his game, yikes,"_ yelped Chopper as he almost got hit by a turbolaser shot.

"Keep it together guys, just weave through the barrages and trust your ECM systems to keep you safe," said Blaze reassuringly.

_"Oh sure, just weave through the barrages, are you nuts?"_ said Chopper disparagingly.

_"To all War Dogs, continue attack runs, we have to cover the bombers so they can get their shots in,"_ ordered Captain Snow.

_"But the flack is too heavy, we'll never get past it,"_ said another pilot, a clone who was much younger than the captain.

_"Relax Shiny, I've been through heavier flack than this and survived. All fighters, full deflectors, double front,"_ said Captain Snow, and Blaze made the changes to his deflectors.

"Edge, Chopper, Archer, form up on my wing, we're going after the _Concordia's_ bridge," Blaze ordered.

_"Sir, with respect have you lost your mind? The _Concordia's_ guns have gone to full defensive saturation mode, we'll be lucky if one of us gets close without getting shot down."_

"Just follow me in, I've got an idea for avoiding those guns," said Blaze as he got in contact with a squadron of Y-Wing fighter bombers. "Gold squadron follow us in, the rest of War Dog squadron will cover your approach. Let's do this!"

Razgriz flight broke off from the main group, while the black with gold trim Y-wing fighter-bombers of Gold squadron followed just two or three hundred metres behind them, while the rest of War Dog squadron followed behind, covering them from other attacking squadrons. The four fighters accelerated hard and aimed themselves at the nose of the _Concordia_, as laser cannon fire flashed all around them, and seemed to be diving into a suicide run, but the _Concordia's_ crew spotted them quickly and the gunners intensified their fire from the forward laser cannon batteries, though for some reason they were not hitting their targets.

"See Chopper, our ECM is holding up," said Blaze as a laser blast flew close enough to heat his shield.

_"Yes, but as we get closer they get more accurate,"_ countered Edge, though there was no more time for chatter as the form of the _Concordia_ grew ever bigger in front of them and to the pilots of War Dog and Gold squadrons it looked as though they were about to hit a thick durasteel wall.

"On my mark, three, two, one, now, now, NOW," Blaze called out just seconds before he would've ended up like a bug on a wind shield on the Venator class cruiser's nose. Razgriz flight, along with all the fighters that flew in behind them, hugged closely to the hull of the _Concordia_, flew at nearly at insane speeds across the hull, and opened up with laser cannons and dummy concussion missiles, hitting any targets of opportunity, like point defence laser cannons, sensor clusters, and as Blaze closed in on the bridge he let loose a pair of missiles and struck the bridge dead-on. He lead his flight right in between the dual bridges, and rolled as he passed them, flying past them with his wings parallel with the bridge towers.

As the Y-Wings made their attack run they began dropping dummy proton bombs from their internal bomb bays, flying so close that they bypassed the shields and dropped them straight onto the hull. Each bomb was armed with a big paint warhead, which splattered several litres of gold adhesive paint over large sections of the outer hull. As luck would have it the _Concordia's_ main flight deck doors were opening up just as Razgriz flight made their attack run, and several of the bombs landed right in the middle of the flight deck before they could close the doors, which instantly painted large portions of the flight deck, walls and the inside of the closing doors in gold. The deck crews could only groan in resignation at the mess they were going to have to clean up afterwards.

After Gold Squadron had dropped their bombs they began rapid launching their proton torpedoes straight at the twin bridges, also armed with paint warheads, though none of them penetrated the bridges shielding, clouds of gold paint still burst in front of the view ports, obscuring the view for a few seconds as the paint was slowly vaporized by the high energy particle shields.

* * *

On the bridge of the _Concordia_ it was controlled chaos as the most recent attack run made several systems go haywire, the computers struggled to keep up with the simulated damage being done, and the sheer chaos was driving the ship's master up the wall.

"Damage report!" Commodore Tisztelet snapped.

"We're reading massive damage to all dorsal sections ahead of the command bridge towers, hangar bay reports that the Y-wings dropped several dummy proton bombs into the hangar just as we were about to launch our last squadrons, as of now we are unable to launch due to the computers simulated damage, as well as the simulated destruction of those squadrons. The bridge shields held, but only just, as of now we're barely able to control the ship," reported the xo as he looked at the ship's status display.

"What's our weapons status?" the Commodore asked wearily, the stress was starting to grate on him.

"We've lost most of our forward most secondary guns,, but main gun batteries are still fully functional, the Y-Wings proton bombs luckily didn't score direct hits on them, however it should be noted that our shields and hull integrity is almost at breaking point."

The Commodore took another look at the holo-tank in the CIC, just behind the bridge, and looked at the battle as a whole. His battle group had been weakened significantly, with his four Carrack class light cruisers off hunting a stealth corvette, and three of his own CR-90 corvettes had been eliminated, along with several squadrons worth of fighters. He needed to turn this around quickly, or he would b overwhelmed when Commodore Hawks' capital ships came for him.

"Recall our light cruisers from the hunt, we're going to need their help in taking out the enemy squadrons as we retreat into the asteroid fields," he said to the surprise of his xo.

"Sir, we may have suffered extensive damage, but the _Gorgon_ and _Gladius_ have only received minimal damage, we still have a chance..."

"Commander are you saying that two Victory class destroyers can go up against both the _Challenger_ and the two Acclamator IIIs by themselves?"

At that his xo became slightly nervous, he too had seen the recent reports of the refits of all three of Jack Hawks' capital ships, and even though he believed the _Gladius_ and the _Gorgon_ would come out on top they would be seriously damaged in the exchange. "We may be able to contribute some long range gunnery, but with the damage the _Concordia _has sustained I suggest we stay out of their range."

"Which means leaving this area, bring what's left about, we've got to get in amongst the rocks before they get here," the Commodore ordered.

* * *

As quickly as they could the four Carrack class light cruisers began to retreat back towards the _Concordia_ as the rest of the battle group began to retreat to the denser part of the asteroid field, though before they could complete their turns four bright beams lanced out and struck all four of them from the other opposite side of the clear area of the asteroid field, neatly eliminating them from the war game.

"Carrack class escorts removed, we now have a clear shot at the rest of the enemy battle group," reported Commander Hess in delight.

"Not so fast Commander. My old teacher isn't completely finished yet, see, he's retreating, trying to get into the denser asteroid field where the _Challenger_ can't follow them. How long until our bow chasers can recharge?" Commodore Hawks asked.

"Approximately two minutes, thirty seconds sir, but they'll be in amongst the asteroids in less than two minutes, and they just increased their acceleration," said Commander Hess after she consulted a couple of different techs.

"Order our fighter bombers to target their sub-lights, we have to slow them down!"

"Most of our ARC-170s and Y-Wings have expended their heavy ordinance, they're down to laser cannons and ion cannons."

"Ion cannons, that's it," said the Commodore in triumph. "Commander, have all Y-Wings equipped with ion cannons make attack runs on all three of those capital ships, make sure our fighters provide as much cover as they can!"

* * *

Back in the thick of the battle a certain squadron of Z-95s were currently engaged in a fur ball with a squadron of V-Wings, and Blaze and Edge were currently fighting to stay in the game.

"Watch it Edge, four V-wings from your ten o'clock high," Blaze warned as he turned to engage, and hopefully punch out of this fur ball.

_"I'm with you,"_ Edge acknowledged as she followed her leader in a snap roll and turn towards their attackers.

The V-wings were smaller and had a higher acceleration, but they paid for that acceleration with almost no shields and very light armour, while the Z-95s they flew were more of a jack of all trades, with strong shields and good armour, coupled with a pair of powerful engines, the same type used on the larger ARC-170, made them almost as fast in acceleration, and only slightly less manoeuvrable than their counterparts.

The first to open fire were the V-wings, their first shots of green laser blasts were deflected by the strong shields of Blaze and Edge's fighters, but they deftly avoided the rest of their volley and counter attacked with a laser volley of their own. Blue and green laser fire crisscrossed space in a matter of seconds, and two of the V-wings were out of the game. Both Blaze and Edge pivoted on their sides, using their fighters RCS thrusters to point their ships and their weapons at their last two opponents as they passed, leading their targeting reticules and compensated for slight changes in speed and direction, and let loose with blistering volleys of blue laser cannon fire and took out both enemy fighters before they could react.

"Good kill, good kill, now let's find us some more targets!" said Blaze as he led Edge back towards the fur ball.

_"Attention all War Dogs, we've got another escort mission, Y-wings are making an attack run on the capital ships sub-lights, they need to be slowed down!"_ said Captain Snow over the squadron frequency.

_"I would love escort duty, if somebody could scrape these guys off our tails," _said Chopper as he dodged and weaved around laser fire from a V-wing that was dogging his tail. Archer came up behind Chopper's pursuer and put a concentrated burst of laser fire up its exhaust pipe, before taking the four o'clock position on Chopper's wing.

_"One tail dry cleaned, pressed and starched."_ said Archer, the grin he was sporting could be practically heard over the speakers.

"Alright you jokesters, we've got a job to do. Form up ahead of Gold squadron, they've got ion cannons to use on the three capital ships engines. It is our job to make sure not a single one is shot down, so boost your engines and go to maximum acceleration, we're going in!" said Blaze as he took his flight into the fray once again in a classic wedge shaped four fingered formation, along with the rest of War Dog squadron. Captain Snow was ahead in the lead with his flight, while Razgriz flight was on his starboard wing, while the third flight was to port, but was one fighter short.

_"Nek flight, what happened to your wingman?"_ Captain Snow asked.

_"War Dog 11 got taken down by an Interceptor, caught him with a couple of concussion missiles up his backside,"_ reported the flight leader in irritation. _"Damned Shiny couldn't keep his head on straight, nearly crashed into his wingman when he got hit."_

_"I'll have a little chat with him after the mission is complete, but right now we've got trouble! Heads up people, Eta 2 Interceptors closing in from 12 o'clock high, move to intercept!"_ Captain Snow ordered and Razgriz flight followed in, with engines redlining and laser cannons blazing as the opposing squadrons clashed.

As they closed in Blaze noticed the Interceptors were coming straight at them. "Heads up, these guys are on a collision course," he said as he put his fighter into a snap roll in an attempt to get out of their way, while still blasting them out of the sky, though not everyone was as successful. One of the Captain Snow's flight got his starboard wing clipped by an Interceptor that also went completely out of control, spinning end over end, while the Z-95 managed to right itself, though it had lost its starboard laser cannon and a good chunk of its wing.

_"Okay, who the hell trained these guys, they're acting like those kamikaze droids we encountered over Muunilist," _said Chopper as he swerved to avoid another Interceptor that nearly took out his fighter.

"Must be some of those new Shinys we heard about, those mass produced Spaarti cloned replicas of the Jango clones, all they've got going for them is numbers," said Blaze as he blasted another out of the war game and continued for the _Concordia's_ engines, with three squadrons worth of Y-wings following close behind.

_"Less chatter and more blasting,"_ said one of the War Dogs as he opened up on another Interceptor that had managed to get on Chopper's tail, who broke contact as soon as the laser cannon fire made enough consecutive hits to eliminate it from the war game. Soon enough the form of the rapidly turning _Concordia_, _Gladius _and _Gorgon_ loomed ever closer and in the Y-wings their targeting computers chimed with lock-on signals for their ion cannons.

_"All units with ion cannons, fire at will,"_ called out the leader of Gold squadron, his gunner quickly complied and moments later electric blue pulses of energy shot forth from their double barrelled ion cannon turrets, followed by dozens more which impacted on the shields of all three capitals. The rapid infusion of energy ironically strengthened the shields momentarily, but the ion particles interacted violently with the shields, and promptly shorted them out. Arcs of electricity danced across the hulls of all three capital ships and cut their acceleration to zero as their engines were momentarily disabled, their large plasma-ion drives sputtered out and were silent, and the Y-wings pulled away, pulling extremely tight turns as they pulled away from the incoming avenging fighters.

_"Looks like we kicked up a hornet's nest, all fighters pull back to the barn for rearming, then we'll come back and finish them off,"_ commanded the _Challenger's _CAG (Commander Air Group) who was coordinating the fighters from the _Challenger's _air-traffic-control tower.

The first to fall back were the remaining Y-wing and ARC-170 fighter bombers, with dozens of fighter squadrons covering their backs, though now it was time for the _Concordia_ battle group's remaining five corvettes to get some payback as they closed in to cut off the depleted squadrons escape. With blistering volleys of green laser cannon fire they rained hell upon the _Challenger's_ fighter squadrons, several boosted their engines to maximum to run the gauntlet, counting on their targeting computers being too slow to accurately track and lock on to all of them, though several still got shot down. The return fire from the fighters were merely fighter mounted laser cannons, most of them having depleted their stocks of missiles and torpedoes on attack runs on capital ships and one of the corvettes, but when hundreds of fighters combined open fire a corvette's shields even their relatively weak laser cannons have an effect.

Two of the five remaining corvettes were eliminated by the sheer volume of incoming fire, minutes after they engaged the _Challenger's_ fighters, though they brought down several squadrons in the process as the fighters made their mad dash past their tormentors. Suddenly from behind the three remaining corvettes the two Acclamator IIIs, the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_, came upon them and unleashed blistering blue volleys from their forward turbolaser cannons, which quickly removed the last enemy corvettes from the war game.

* * *

The mood on the Command Bridge of the _Challenger_ was sombre as they watched the results of the latest move made by the _Concordia's_ corvettes and their counter move.

"The last enemy corvettes have been eliminated, but we took some severe losses to our fighter and bomber squadrons, they're down to half strength!" reported Commander Hess with her head down as she took in the reports. "But they fulfilled their objectives, all three of Commodore Tisztelet's capital ships have had their sub-lights disabled and we are rapidly gaining on them."

Jack however was cautious. "Just because we've slowed them down, doesn't mean they're not dangerous. He's still got some serious firepower on his side and both our fighter forces have been ground down to almost nothing, and the bombing raid on the _Concordia _crippled their launch bay, so now they are unable to launch whatever bombers they might have..."

"Sir, incoming enemy strike fighters, two squadrons of ARC-170s, plus a pair of V-wing squadrons!" called out one of the scanner operators, and another rapidly confirmed his sighting.

"Damn it, I thought we took out the _Concordia's_ fighter launch capabilities, where did they come from?" demanded Commander Hess.

"IFF tags shows they're from both the _Gladius_ and the _Gorgon_ and are rapidly closing in, our fighter squadrons are moving to intercept," said the same scanner operator.

Outside several V-wings from the _Dauntless_ and _Endurance_ rose up from beneath the _Challenger_, having stayed in its shadow to provide one last surprise for anyone trying to bomb Commodore Hawks' capital ships. The V-wings of the opposing squadrons intercepted each other and the interception became a fur ball as they each jockeyed for position, using speed and manoeuvrability get a one up on their opponents, but the pilots of the opposing V-wing squadrons were roughly evenly matched, both in skill as well as in ships. As the ARC-170s passed by the fur ball several of them took advantage of the distracted V-wing pilots from the _Dauntless_ and fired a number of laser cannon blasts from their wing mounted guns, as well as their tail guns as they continued on towards the _Challenger_.

"Alert, incoming fighters, ARC-170s, closing fast and their torpedo launchers are armed, escorts and CIWS responding," reported another technician in the crew pit, just as streams of light laser cannon fire began to blaze across the view of the Command Bridge, and two of the corvettes moved themselves into position to cut off the incoming fighters.

Onboard the ARC-170s the flight crews were surprised by the heavy fire they were taking, no other ship the size of the _Challenger _had so many point defence turrets, plus the fire from the corvettes, and now they were forced to dodge and weave around the incoming blue laser fire. One by one they fell as they got closer, first the squadron leaders, since they took point, and as they fell their strike capability weakened considerably, even their enhanced deflector shields only bought them a few extra seconds, but it was enough. As one the twelve fighters that remained of the original two squadrons launched all of their proton torpedoes in rapid succession, which emptied their magazines, then pulled away from their attack runs, though as they turned their relative velocity decreased and provided the perfect targets for the _Challenger's_ and corvettes CIWS guns and shredded them in retaliation for the torpedo strike.

However the torpedoes were still incoming, and automatic targeting protocols kicked in and the droid brains installed in the CIWS turrets shifted their fire from fighter interception to torpedo interception, and blistering streams of blue laser fire erupted in the path of the proton torpedoes. Dozens exploded at a time as the warheads detonated, one or two were destroyed only metres away from the shields, but some managed to get past the guns to impact the shields. Of the seventy two launched, only seven managed to get through, and they were scattered hits across much of the _Challenger_. Most of them hit across the arrow shaped forward hull, and merely squashed themselves as they impacted, their warheads merely dummies, while three managed to slip past the guns to impact the shields of the Command Bridge, and armoured doors slammed automatically into place just before impact, creating a loud clang of metal on metal on the bridge.

Commander Hess looked over the shoulders of her subordinates as the simulated damage reports came in. "Seven torpedoes impacted sir, but none of them weakened our shields significantly, and most of the enemy fighters that attacked us were destroyed, it seems the CIWS was worth all the taxpayers money after all," she reported in her business-like tone of hers.

"Increase to maximum acceleration and prepare for broadside exchange, all batteries fire at will," the Commodore ordered.

"Broadside exchange? Sir shouldn't we maintain our distance and just continue blasting them from a distance?" Commander Hess asked in confusion, normally Commodore Hawks preferred to use long range artillery and fighter attacks to engage an opponent, not a close range gun battle.

"Commander, the _Concordia_ and her remaining ships are putting out a lot of jamming signals, which means if we are going to hit them with any accuracy we're going to have to get closer, but don't worry. We're not going to engage in a close range fight. Helm, as soon as tactical has clear shots for all three of those ships point us directly at the _Concordia_ so our bow chasers have a clear shot at her. Gunners, once the bow chasers fire unload everything those batteries have on the Concordia. The _Dauntless_ and the _Endurance_ will engage the destroyers!"

"Aye sir," said everyone on the Command Bridge, and Jack let a small smile grace his lips as he heard their confirmation and they got to work.

With a surge of acceleration the three capital ships and four corvettes moved forward and closed the distance with their opponents. As one they fired their bow mounted SPHA beam laser cannons, which gouged huge chunks out of all three of the enemy capital ships, in simulation of course, and proceeded to fire blistering volleys from their main and secondary turbolaser batteries. All sixteen of the _Challenger's_ triple barrelled turrets fired in rapid succession, they never let up until...

"Sir, signal coming in from the _Concordia_," reported Commander Hess.

"Put it through, but maintain fire," said the Commodore as he turned towards a nearby monitor, which moments later showed a haggard, but no less bemused visage of Commodore Baran Tisztelet.

_"Cease fire, _Challenger,_ I surrender, you win this one Jack, you young bastard!"_ said Commodore Tisztelet.

"I'm no bastard, that just earned you thirty more seconds of getting your ships blasted to hell," said Jack with a small evil grin on his face, and Commodore Tisztelet's eyes comically bugged out.

_"Damn it Jack, if you don't cease fire the next few rounds my ships fire are going to be live, and I don't think the Admiral will look kindly upon the two of us if we really destroy each other's ships,"_ Commodore Tisztelet retorted angrily.

"Fine, all batteries cease fire and secure from training mode, recall all fighters and set up a CAP patrol, then get us out of the asteroid field. I want performance reports from all department heads within twenty four hours. Commander Hess, Would you join me in my quarters this evening? I want your thoughts on today's war game."

"Aye sir, I'll just finish up her and I'll join you," she replied, then got to work getting the battle group out of the asteroid field.

Jack watched her work fondly for a couple of seconds before he set off for the turbolift and headed down to his quarters.

* * *

AN: Whew, finally finished this chapter, I thought I'd never get it finished. Hope my readers enjoyed


	7. Revalations and Newcomers

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 7:**** Revelations and Newcomers**

It was a tired but satisfied Commander Hess that walked off the command bridge. After the war game with the _Concordia_ battle group she had managed to get everything back in line and supervised the crew pilot the ship out of the asteroid field, and reviewed the combat logs in the CIC, before she headed for the Commodore's quarters. The crew had performed admirably, but she felt they could do better, though they had managed to cut their launch and scramble time under three minutes. They were not quite up to her preferred standards, but for now it was a good enough start. She so looked forward to breaking in the new arrivals. The Commodore was moderately satisfied, but seemed to agree with her sentiment, which was probably why he asked her to join him in his quarters. She promised to herself that tomorrow when the new arrivals showed up she would be driving them twice as hard until she got the results she and the Commodore wanted to achieve, and knew that everyone was probably going to hate her for it, but the crew didn't have to like her, but both she and the crew needed to respect one another.

Now she stood before the Commodore's quarters heavy bulkhead doors, slightly nervous about what he might want to talk to her about. She lightly pushed the buzzer, signalling her presence at the door and she wished to gain entry.

Through the intercom system the Commodore replied, "Enter," and with a near silent swish the heavy doors opened to reveal the commodore's quarters. Both Kayla and Jack were sitting on one of the two halves of a circular sofa with a circular table in between. "Please, have a seat commander," offered Jack, though Commander Hess knew it was an order. She settled herself down and got comfortable. "While I and Kayla here were on the Bespin military base we ran into an old acquaintance of yours, a Commodore Tyko Delmar." Mirialia's eyes tightened in anger at that name and her face became white as blood drained from her face.

"I sense a great deal of fear and anger in you when Jack said his name," said Kayla.

"You're damned right I'm angry! That bastard is the reason why I lost my chance to command a ship of my own one day. Plus he's a chauvinistic pig who thinks that anyone with a pair of breasts is for his own personal enjoyment," she said with utter disgust.

"How long were you under his command?" Jack asked.

"I was under his command for six months. For most of that time he was a professional officer and acted like a gentleman, but we were so busy fighting a war I didn't notice anything amiss before the end of my six month stint aboard his ship. I was a lieutenant commander at the time, assigned as one of several tactical officers. Captain Delmar ruled his crew with an iron fist, he was the captain, and his word was law." She paused to collect her thoughts.

"On the day before we were to attack a Separatist forward military base on Tibrin he requested my presence in his quarters, supposedly to get my opinion on the mission. At the time I hadn't seen or heard much about him, so I didn't know what I was walking into. It started as a regular meeting, but over time he became flirtatious, and as time went on his advances became more insistent. Finally I had to put my foot down and told him flat out no, and made to leave his quarters. The next thing I knew he grabbed me before his door and began dragging me towards his bunk. He said, 'You and every other whore on this ship are mine to do with as I please, and I will have you.' After that I snapped," she said and elaborated after seeing the confused looks of both the Commodore and Kayla. "I used my CQC training to throw him off of me to the deck and made sure the bastard could never reproduce." She smiled in evil satisfaction of that memory. She clarified. "I was wearing my steel-toed boots at the time."

Jack gave an involuntary wince at what happened to Delmar and almost felt sorry for him. Almost being the most apt description of what he thought of the bastard commodore, but of what he had seen in the Bespin officers club, he didn't think the man deserved any sympathy or pity at all.

"Well your former commanding officer certainly knows you're aboard this ship as my xo, and he's just as much of a horn-dog as he was back then."

"Why doesn't anyone put a stop to him?" Commander Hess asked in exasperation.

"The man has so many connections it's impossible to get a full tally on them, mostly in the Imperial Senate and a few high level admirals. He's probably got some dirt on them that he keeps over their collective heads," said Jack in disgust, whishing that he could send in a squad of Commander Max's ARC Troopers to personally take care of the bastard.

"Then the next time I see him I'll shoot him with my blaster, first in the crotch, watch him writhe around on the floor in pain for a few moments, then blast his head off..."

Commodore Hawks interrupted. "Commander Hess, you will control yourself, it won't be just you who would be affected. The White Coats would take you in, question you, and then torture you when they believe you have more dirt on me and the rest of the battle group's senior officers and the fate of Aayla Secura will come out, and we'll all be brought before a military tribunal, found guilty of treason, then shot. Do you want that to happen? Because that's exactly what will happen if you don't rein in that temper of yours," said Jack sternly.

With great reluctance and barely contained rage she responded with a simple, "Aye sir."

"Mirialia please, don't let your anger control you. What he tried to do to you, and done to several other women before and after is monstrous, but you cannot give in to hate, that path leads to self-destruction," said Kayla in an attempt to calm the younger officer, at the same time she used the Force to send soothing thoughts to her mind.

After she took several deep breaths and calmed down she said, "You're right, the bastard isn't worth the energy of a single blaster bolt."

"What kind of officer is he, and I don't mean his extra-curricular activities, what kind of a ship handler is he?" Jack asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I've got a feeling that someday him and me are going to be on opposite sides in another galactic war, and when it breaks out I need to know my enemy. He will no doubt be one of many who might be sent against us."

"He is a competent ship-handler however he is prone to bouts of instability, especially during combat. He gets easily stressed when his battle-plans fall apart and that leads him to make rash decisions, though he is a sneaky bastard, willing to sell his own mother to the Hutts for the right price." she said as she remembered some of the shipboard gossip she heard while under Delmar's command.

"Would he try to set us up for any kind of slight to his ego?" Kayla asked.

"In a Coruscant minute, the man is a sadist as well as extremely vindictive, he blacklisted me after all, but if it had happened after Order 66 I could just see him do more than that, he would no doubt have his ship's stormtroopers hold me down while he..." Her voice hitched as she considered the possibilities of what could have happened, and promptly buried them. "I'm sorry sir, even after all this time it's still difficult to talk about. Why do you ask?"

"Because Delmar tried to bully me into giving him an opportunity to give himself and his cronies a 'test run' with Kayla and I said no, think that damaged his precious ego?" Jack rhetorically asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well, if he didn't like you before, he positively hates you now!" said Mirialia, and not with a little trepidation. "He probably thought you didn't let anybody do any harm to your human crew, which he would respect, but that you protected an alien 'slave' from him, that would just not sit right with him. He believes most species, particularly twi'leks, should be used as slaves, and females for the pleasure of their human masters. The man's very presence is enough to make me sick."

"Well, we'll just have to deal with him when the time comes," said Jack as both he and Kayla observed Mirialia visibly relax as the subject came to an end. There was definitely something more to her story, but for now they would let it go.

"What did you think of our performance against the _Concordia_ battle group?" said Jack, knowing she needed to focus on something else now.

She relaxed even more, a small smile appeared on her lips and a little colour came back to her face. "Their performance was good, but they could still be better. I suggest more training drills, at least four times a week, and random scramble drills at least once or twice a week for a little variety. Our fighter squadrons were exceptional and was the most decisive for our little victory, but they too should be part of the drills, especially with the new ships coming in."

"The _Intrepid_ should fit right in with our battle group's tactics and strategy, but I'm a little concerned about the corvettes," said Jack and both Mirialia and Kayla got curious as to why he said that. "While the ships performances were good, like you said we could do better, and the refits certainly gave us an edge against the _Concordia_, however I don't think the CR-90 corvettes are going to be around for long, they're merely a stopgap measure for the moment."

Jack then punched in some commands on the console built into the circular table then a small holo-emitter hummed to life and displayed a blue toned hologram of a ship, it was considerably smaller than the _Challenger_, roughly two hundred metres long, had the same wedge shape of a star destroyer, but its bridge module at the top was buried into the top of the wedge. It had three large engines in the back, buried deeply into the wedge and protected by thick armour. Eight DBY-890 turbolaser turrets were mounted along the centre line and spaced out so all eight had a clear range of fire forward, like the _Challenger_, and a pair of triple barrelled spherical ion cannons mounted close to the bow.

"This ship is the proposed Dagger class corvette, larger than a CR-90 and packs more of a capital ship grade weapons load-out than any other ship in her size class. The design is still under review, but once it passes through we will be one of the first battle groups to get them to replace the CR-90 Corvettes," said Jack smiling, and Mirialia's eyes shined with excitement.

"If I'm reading these statistics right this new corvette has a slightly greater acceleration curve than our current corvettes, and if they are all built with stealth systems integrated rather than tacked on, like with the _Shadow_ and _Ghost_, they'll be all the more effective for our missions," said Mirialia as she considered the possibilities these ships could provide. "They'd be most effective as escorts, blockade runners and stealth ships."

"Well don't get too excited, Commander. It will be a few more years before their keels are laid. How long until our new comrades arrive?"

"They're scheduled to arrive tomorrow, the _Intrepid_ will arrive first at thirteen hundred hours from her Inner Rim patrol route. The five Dreadnoughts, the _Revenge_, the _Renown_, the _Ripper_, the _Rattler_ and the _Rendili Pride_ will arrive approximately fourteen hundred hours along with the four new Nebulon-B frigates _Daring_, _Fearless_, _Rapture_ and _Surprise_ from the Hawks Shipyards. I kind of feel a little pity for Captain Csalas, with this kind of firepower at our disposal his Clone Wars relics won't stand a chance," said Commander Hess with relish.

"Don't pity the bastard, the man has killed enough people to fill an entire convoy of bulk freighters to the gills, and most of those he killed were civilian merchantmen who were simply trying to make a living, and since the war he hasn't changed his modus operandi a bit," said Jack as he pulled up a holographic recreation of one of the pirate's classic strategies. "He favours using gravity well generator equipped vessels to pull hapless merchant ships out of hyperspace, overwhelm their defences with a concentrated fighter attack on their engines, shields and weapons, then board them with battle droids, sometimes just a single platoon of B1s, but for those with larger crews and full security detachments he sends in Destroyer Droids and BX-series Commando Droids to both overwhelm and root out any resistance, kill the crew, then make off with the loot before anyone can come to the rescue."

"Does he just hang around the trade routes and lay in wait for merchant ships to fall into his trap?" Commander Hess asked in confusion, since exact trade routes for merchant ships were kept secret so merchantmen couldn't be easily attacked like this.

"No, somehow he's getting accurate trade routes for the big industrial bulk freighter lines. Several transport companies have already begun grouping their ships into convoys and sharing the burden of providing escorts, but they're still losing ships and cargo." Jack stood up from the couch and began pacing his quarters a little. Kayla quickly moved to the small kitchen to prepare him a hot drink. Soon enough the strong smell of caf wafted into the atmosphere of the Commodore's quarter's, the smell had an almost uplifting effect on both the Commodore and his XO, who practically lived on the stuff, something that Kayla could not miss on pointing out.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you two are completely dependent upon this drink," said Kayla as she set a tray with full pot with a couple of mugs on the table and poured for the both of them.

"Aren't you having any?" Mirialia asked in surprise, since most of the Command Staff, including most Jedi, practically ran on the stuff.

"I prefer tea to caf, the caffeine content is too high for my species, too stimulating," Kayla replied as she picked up her own mug of steaming hot red tea and took a sip. "Ah, just right," she sighed as she quickly perked up.

"Red tea isn't exactly lacking in caffeine either," Mirialia commented in amusement.

"True," said Kayla with a secretive smile of her own.

"Thank you Kayla," said Jack as he quickly picked up his own mug and began taking quick sips of the very hot drink.

"So, any ideas about catching this guy?" Mirialia asked.

"Well, right now Imperial Intelligence is working on the theory that Csalas somehow sliced into the transportation companies computer banks and got the exact routes their ships are taking. Our official mission is that we, in concert with a dozen other battle groups are going to be staked out at various points along the trade routes and hopefully be close enough to intercept before they can completely strip the merchantmen of their cargo," said Jack, though he obviously didn't think much of the idea.

"It's a fools mission, camping out on the trade routes and hope that somehow we catch them in the act!"

"Let me guess, you already have an idea about how we're going to catch them, sir," said Mirialia in anticipation and Jack didn't disappoint.

"What these pirates are after is profit, that means they look for the biggest, fattest target they can put their sights on and can take with the least amount of casualties."

"Why would he worry about casualties, he normally just sends over droids doesn't he?" Mirialia asked.

"Ah, but he has a finite supply of droids, and even if he scavenges parts from damaged or destroyed ones he won't be able to replace his losses for a while, even with the wealth he has stolen over the years. The plan is for us to make like one of these convoys, allow them to pull us out of hyperspace, then pounce on them, take them completely by surprise and get some real up to date information out of their computer banks, then follow that information to its source."

"A well conceived plan, Commodore," said Kayla though worry lines quickly appeared on her face. "But what if they use their heavier warships in these attacks and merely use the threat of force, the merchantmen surrender and they board and kill the crews, steal their cargo and then destroy the ships to leave no evidence."

"Then our entire battle group should have the firepower to overwhelm them, or at least to be able to fight out of any trap they could lay, remember he has mostly frigate sized vessels at his disposal and only a small number of heavy line cruisers available, and I doubt he would bother with engaging bulk freighters with heavy capital ships," said Jack as he settled himself down back onto the couch.

"I hope your right, but if you're wrong it may cost you dearly," said Kayla in a warning tone.

"If you can give me a better option I'm all ears, if not then we'll stick with the original plan."

Mirialia finished her mug then stood up. "Well, thanks for the caf Kayla, and thank you for the talk, but I think I'll head back to my quarters, it's been a long day, and I've still got that report to write up, you'll have it by tomorrow morning."

"Very well, dismissed Commander."

She saluted smartly, turned on her heel and headed out the door, and both Jack and Kayla waited a few moments.

"So, what do you think?" Jack asked as he once again sat himself down beside the attractive twi'lek.

"She didn't tell us everything," answered Kayla nervously. "All she said was the truth, but not the whole truth. Maybe she'd be more open to a one on one talk with one of us, but we shouldn't rush her, the type of mental trauma she went through, even though he never managed to complete the act, could still have a lingering effect upon her."

"Yeah I noticed," said Jack as he mused upon her characteristic behaviour while she had been under his command. "She always had a slight temper, but I did notice that she seemed to be more hostile to the male members of the crew, while she has stayed relatively even-handed with the females. Everyone has commented upon it, plus she practically works herself half to death. Doctor Magellan has on more than one occasion had to order her to take some shore leave."

"Well, the only thing we can do is watch and see how this develops," said Kayla, though worry lines still creased her beautiful face.

"Don't worry so much, it'll ruin your new face," said Jack in an attempt to lighten the mood, and funnily enough it worked, as Kayla's worried frown burst into a short laugh. "Like my mother always said, laughter is always better than pills for whatever ails you," said Jack as he opened up his uniform jacket and tiredly moved over to his desk deeper into his quarters, a simple dark wood desk with a highly polished sheen to it, which for most officers would cost a small fortune to buy and have installed, though in Jack's case it was a simple deal for his father to procure one. With a sigh he sat himself down into his comfortable leather bound office chair and began reading the day's status reports. As he read the reports Kayla came over and began to massage the aches and pains in his shoulders.

"By the Force I don't think I have encountered someone with so many knots in his shoulders," she said as she persistently and quite forcibly worked the many knots in his shoulder and back muscles.

"You have no idea how good this feels Kayla," said Jack as he reclined further back in his comfy chair.

"Well, you deserve it, both as a thank you for saving my life, as well as for all your hard work in getting your ship and crew in order," she said as she continued to massage him.

"I may have been the one who saved you, but I don't really deserve such praise, or this sort of treatment from you," said Jack as he gently took hold of her hands and took them off his shoulders, then continued to read his reports, though she immediately saw him tense up once again as he practically hunched over his desk.

"You need to relax, all this stress is not good for you."

"It's not easy to relax when I'm personally responsible for several thousand men and women aboard these ships, plus the fact that I'm trying to avoid attention from the Imperial Security Bureau, and if this mission pans out I'll probably come under greater scrutiny from the White Coats, mainly to ensure my loyalty to the Emperor." All he could do is snort at that comment. "Hell, they are the worst that humanity has to offer, and don't think I can't see the problems they are going to cause down the road. They will cause more uprisings and rebellions than they put down, and mark my words, the non-human races of this galaxy will be the ones that will suffer the most, and when the Empire falls, like all empires that are built upon slaughter deceit will, the aliens that were oppressed will no doubt turn their anger upon the rest of us."

"You really must relax Jack, all those worries are for the future, further down the path, and we must face them one at a time and solve them. Now I say it is time for you to head for bed. It is now twenty three hundred hours and you need rest, and you will do your crew no favours by arriving on duty half asleep," said Kayla sternly.

"But Kayla I really need to review these reports..."

"But nothing, Mirialia isn't the only one on this ship who works oneself into the grave, now off to bed!"

All Jack could offer was a half sarcastic reply of, "Yes dear," then trotted off for his bunk, slowly disrobing himself and headed for his fresher unit to do his night routine for bed, and Kayla, acting as the ever loyal servant girl, helped him.

"Kayla why are you helping me? I've been doing this for a long time, I don't need the help of a servant."

"Just throwing myself into the part I must play, besides I've had far worse tasks forced upon me in my time, and unlike many officers in the military, except for the clones of course, you see me as a person, not a lowly twi'lek slave whose only use is to be used as entertainment," she said as she waited for him to finish using the fresher. "Besides this way I get to keep having all the creature comforts I was afforded as a Jedi Knight, such as a fresher unit, which you don't mind sharing with me," she said in an oh so seductive voice.

"Want to join me in here? It would save one the ship's water supply," Jack asked teasingly, thinking she wouldn't take his offer.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just wait for you to finish," she responded, blushing a very dark shade of blue at the thought of joining him, but firmly reminded herself that attachment was strictly against the Jedi Code, and like it or not she was still a Jedi, even if the Order was no more.

Soon enough Jack exited the fresher and headed for his comfortable sleeping bunk, while Kayla entered the fresher alcove. Jack was refreshed, but also mentally and physically exhausted, and the thought of Kayla in his fresher unit didn't exactly help his stress levels, and in his most private thoughts he couldn't help but think of the dark blue goddess that he was sharing his life with, and keeping hidden from the ISB, and hoped that what he had done was worth it, and wouldn't get her, himself, his father, or his crew killed, just for doing the right thing.

* * *

**1300 hours the next day.**

The next day Commodore Hawks, along with his xo and twi'lek assistant, stood by the Command Bridge viewports and waited patiently for their new comrades ships. Right on the dot an Acclamator carrier came out of hyperspace in the distance and rapidly decelerated and began moving towards the _Challenger_ and its battle group. There wasn't much to distinguish a carrier version from any of the other sub-types of Acclamator class assault ships, except for its bridge tower, or rather its lack of one. In its place was an armoured oval dome structure with a number of point defence laser cannons surrounding it. There was also a pair of rather large hangar bay doors along its lower sides for receiving and launching fighters and shuttles.

Both Kayla and Commander Hess were both intently studying the form of the _Intrepid_. "This your first time seeing a carrier version of the Acclamator class?" the commodore asked of both of them.

"Not in a long time sir, not since the beginning of the war," responded Commander Hess. "She appears to have been modified."

The Commodore smiled slightly. "A common modification that's started to take hold on a lot of the older Acclamator class carriers. Their shields around the bridge tower was always lacking, so some carrier captains requested better protection, and Rothana Heavy Engineering, the ships original manufacturer, came up with the armoured bridge dome concept. It certainly increases the ship's survivability."

"Commodore, the captain of the _Intrepid_ is requesting permission to come aboard," reported one of the communications operators from the crew pit.

"Tell Captain Rothgild permission granted, and pass along my complements for coming in bang on time. Commander Hess, have her escorted to the conference room, I need to speak to the good captain in private."

"I'll escort her there myself," said Commander Hess as she headed down to the hangar deck. "Control Tower, direct Captain Rothgild's shuttle to the starboard landing bay," she quickly ordered over her ear mounted mini-com.

"Commander Patrice, you have the Command Bridge until the xo returns," commanded the Commodore as he left the Command Bridge for the conference room situated beyond the CIC, right next to the turbolift.

Minutes later his xo and his new captain entered the conference room. It was spartanly decorated with only long oval hard wood table and a number of chairs. The Commodore took an appraising look at his new captain. She was short and petite was the first thing he noticed, with sun kissed skin and fiery red hair tied back into a loose regulation pony tail, and deep brown eyes.

"Captain Lela Rothgild reporting as ordered, sir," she said.

"At ease captain, and welcome aboard. Commander Hess, return to the Command Bridge, then as soon as the rest of our new comrades arrive send their captains in." The xo nodded and left the conference room.

Seeing Captain Rothgild still standing stock still at attention the Commodore said, "At ease Captain, no need to stand upon ceremony with me," he said as he pulled a small device from his pocket and activated it.

She visibly relaxed when she recognized it for what it was. A high intensity bug jammer and scanner. She had one herself in her quarters. She took a seat at the conference table, one seat between her and the Commodore at the head of the table. "I take it you've received our recent orders?"

"Yes, and to be frank it's about time the fleet began pulling its weight in the Outer Rim. I've been on deep space patrol in the Outer Rim, and I can tell you right now that the pirates have managed to get a lot of military hardware, both from the Republic and the CIS, and they have become ever more dangerous and powerful," she stated. "I don't think that simply camping out on the Trade Routes and hopefully be able to intercept them before the merchantmen are overwhelmed."

"I'm glad we're on the same wavelength here, but what do you think of my plan?" the commodore asked, his first of many tests.

"Sir, while better than the official plan I say it's too risky. Just two days ago an entire convoy of ten bulk freighters, with military grade escorts, was destroyed not far from Mustafar. My ship was the first one on the scene, and what little data we could scavenge from their black boxes it would appear they were quickly overwhelmed, and the escorts were brand new Nebulon-B frigates, not exactly something you just brush away with a few corvettes."

"You have a better suggestion?"

"I suggest that we stay in one area of the Hydian Way, near Malastare, and ask Imperial Intelligence to plant encrypted hyperspace transponders onboard several bulk freighters and escorts. As soon as one gets forced out of hyperspace we'll have an exact location and can intercept them all the more quickly. The same system could be adopted by the entire fleet, and it would give us some good PR in the Outer Rim."

Commodore Hawks took a few moments to think it over. He didn't feel comfortable about placing encrypted transponders aboard bulk freighters without the owner's permission, and the signal could possibly be tracked, but so far regular patrols had been ineffectual to stop these pirates.

"Very well, I'll speak with Imperial Intelligence about getting those transponders installed. ISB will probably love the idea of having every merchant ship carry these transponders," said the Commodore gravely. He could practically feel the Empire's grip tighten ever so slightly more around society's neck.

A beeping sound came from the intercom. "Yes?"

_"Commodore, the rest of our new ships just arrived, shall I have their captains report to you?"_ Commander Hess asked.

"Yes, send them here, and have the rest of our ship commanders join us, and you as well, we have a lot of work to do."

* * *

"Right away sir," replied Commander Hess as she thumbed off the intercom. "Commander Patrice, you have the Command Bridge while I bring up the captains from the hangar bay."

Commander Patrice merely nodded as she strode by him and off the Command Bridge. As she came off the turbolift on the hangar deck level a friendly voice called out to her. "Hey Mirialia, wait up!" She immediately recognized the jovial voice of the ship's chief engineer, Rikard Ganto.

"Hey Old Man," she said slightly teasingly, but with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm not old, I'm still in my prime," said the more rotund man. "I asked you not to call me that."

"And until you either get promoted or I leave the service, that's all you're ever going to get from me, now if you would excuse me I need to get down to the main hangar and receive the captains that are coming aboard."

"Ah yes, I'm also heading that way, it's time for my weekly inspection, gotta keep my people on their toes and what not." She tried to outpace him, but as usual he easily kept up. It always surprised her that he could keep up with her, especially with his massive bulk.

"So, scuttlebutt says we're about to go after some Separatist mercenaries, any truth to that?" he quarried as usual.

"Sorry Old Man, but I cannot confirm nor deny anything right now, and really, I am in a hurry," she said as she put in another burst of speed, but Ganto put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Slow down lass, take a few deep breaths and relax, you'll do the ship nor the Commodore any good if you keep working yourself up like this."

"Let go, Commander!" she said dangerously as she put her right hand on top of Ganto's and tensed up even more.

"You know I won't do that until you calm down," he retorted as he stopped them.

"Fine!" With that she forcibly took his hand off her shoulder, span around and twisted Ganto's wrist and with an open palm strike straight into his chest she shoved him into a nearby bulkhead, where he banged the back of his head quite painfully and saw stars.

"You forgot my rule number one, no man may ever touch me without my permission. You remember the last time someone tried that, don't you?" she stated sweetly, and Ganto remembered as the xo, who was nearly a head shorter than him and weighed just over half his weight, pinned him to the ground with his arm forced behind and up his back and nearly broke it in the process.

"I do Commander, now please let me up," he squealed as she put more pressure on his arm.

She held him there for a moment longer then let him up, at which point he glared at her. "You do know that I could press charges for assault right now?"

"Yes, but then I'd claim self defence and it would be a he said, she said argument, which any good judge would throw out of their court in a second. Besides, you like me too much to press charges," she rebutted and Ganto could only smile at that.

"True, feeling better now?" he asked.

"Yes, I actually do. Shall we continue on to the hangar deck?" she asked in a better mood.

"Sure, just don't throw me into anymore bulkheads!"

"No promises, Old Man."

They continued on for a few more moments, and after Ganto's arm stopped aching he worked up the courage to ask, "Have you seen that therapist I recommended?"

"No, and for the last time I don't need a shrink. Something like that would go on my permanent record, and would most likely reduce what little chances I have of ever commanding a ship of my own."

"I can guarantee that Doctor Thorne will keep her confidentiality oath. All she will confirm is that you came to her, but she will never reveal what you tell her. Believe me, she would die first before breaking a confidence," he said reassuringly.

Commander Hess became pensive, but as she thought about how she just reacted...

"Very well, I'll consider it, but for now I need to meet the battle group's new captains and bring them to the conference room."

"Very well Mirialia. By the way, we're here," he said as they walked into the main hangar, which had its space doors open and the atmospheric shields engaged, ready to receive the shuttles.

As Ganto split off from her she said sheepishly, "Sorry about the arm."

"No worries, it wasn't broken, and it's not the first time someone almost broke it," he said reassuringly.

She nodded gratefully, then stood in the safe zone, and waited for the shuttles to arrive.

* * *

Minutes later the conference room was packed with the captains of the nineteen ships of the _Challenger_ battle group. Most of the occupants were male, with only three exceptions. Three of the younger captains, all from the newer Nebulon Bs, were casting 'interested' glances at Kayla, which she subtlety pointed out to the Commodore, and he gave all three of them pointed glares, which instantly stopped them. The last Nebulon B commander, an older man, cast an interested glance as well and followed up with a question. "What is the twi'lek's purpose here?"

"She is my servant, and currently is serving in the role of assistant," Commodore Hawks answered imperiously. "You will do well to forget her presence in this meeting."

Everyone of the newcomers got a chill down their spine from the tone he used, which promised a very horrible end for anyone disobeying his orders.

"You all know our general orders, but now we're going to get into specifics. We are going to be hunting down this man," the Commodore stated as Kayla worked a pad in her hands and a holographic image of Arulo Csalas appeared over the conference table. "He is wanted for piracy, mass murder, and an assortment of war crimes. So far the slippery bastard has slipped past every trap the navy has attempted, but we are the ones are going to catch him!"

"And how are we going to do that, sir?" the same older captain asked with a sneer. "From what I've read the nineteen ships we have are not going to be enough. He has forty two ships, most of them being no smaller frigate size, and he has five of those massive Lucrehulk class battleships at last count, while we have mostly just a few light warships, and only one Star Destroyer."

"That's only supposition. No one knows exactly how many and what types of ships he has under his control. All that we do know is that his flagship is a customized Providence class carrier, optimized for space combat," replied the Commodore.

"Just one of the most dangerous of its class," grumbled the captain.

"Captain Nimzicky, I suggest that you stow such talk," said Commander Hess heatedly. "We have received our marching orders from Admiral Rod!"

"Commodore, I suggest that Commander Hess leave these proceedings. She obviously doesn't know her place," said Captain Nimzicky, which produced a flurry of nods from a couple of other captains, namely Captains Belloc and Roche, in command of the Nebulon B frigates _Fearless_ and _Rapture_ respectfully.

The Commodore's face was impassive, but Kayla could tell from his strong emotions that he was very close to throwing these three captains off his ship. She directed her senses to the four Nebulon B captains, and noticed that the youngest, Captain Farrow Castillo, was the most open minded, while sharing some of the feelings of attraction to her as the other three, he was also the one who was most like a gentlemen, and didn't like the tone of Captain Nimzicky, something to tell the Commodore in private.

"She is my executive officer and has my complete trust, Captain Nimzicky. Her bluntness is actually an asset to me, as it saves me from having to be rude to you. Now I suggest that unless you have something constructive to add, you will stay silent and listen to the plan."

Captain Nimzicky was enough of a professional to remain silent in his chair and show no emotions upon his face, but everyone could tell he wasn't happy.

"Now that that's taken care of you will all listen to the plan..."

AN: Whew, I think I'll stop there at the moment. Hope my readers enjoyed this segment and are left wanting more.


	8. Pirate Hunting

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 8: Pirate Hunting**

**Cloud Base, Bespin**

**Six months later.**

In the C&C of Cloud Base a worried Admiral Rod was in conference with a number of admirals charge the Outer Rim Territories via holographic transmission around the central holo-tank. None of the others were worried at all, except for one. Admiral Wullf Yularen of Imperial Intelligence had a blank face, but Admiral Rod had enough experience reading the man's body language that he too was worried.

"With all due respect gentlemen, I believe it is too soon to declare victory," stated Admiral Rod. "We have destroyed a large number of the Outer Rim's pirate lords and ladies, but we still haven't captured Csalas, even though we have taken out his two gravity well projector equipped Bulwark class cruisers, he is still a dangerous man, and is now actively on the run."

_"The man may be on the run, but sooner or later we will catch up to him," _said one of the admirals. _"There are only so many places to hide, and sooner or later he is going to need fuel to keep his fleet running."_

_"Don't forget that the man has made a deal with the Hutt Cartels," _Admiral Yularen reminded them. _"We have evidence that he is being supported by them and most likely has several safe houses and bases he could retreat to, and we have never been able to tag one of his ships successfully with tracking beacons."_

"Which is why I suggest we keep my battle groups in the field and patrolling along the systems adjacent to the main shipping lanes. He has more than enough ships to cause several planets some major damage, particularly the smaller colony worlds out in Mid-Rim and the Outer Rim."

The others could only nod in agreement to this. The Emperor had given them the mission of hunting down all the remnants of the Separatist fleets, and for the most part they had been successful, but there was still that annoying thorn in their sides, Arulo Csalas, to contend with. He didn't have the largest fleet, only numbering in a total of thirty known ships, but he was the most successful, and had the annoying habit of attacking at just the wrong time.

Suddenly warning signals sounded from the holo-tank, and several blinking lights went out. Simultaneously.

"Report!" Admiral Rod barked, and immediately the C&C became a mad house of activity as several techs began to run diagnostics and double checked their results, and when they all came back with no sign of malfunction the admiral's aide came up to him.

"Sir, it's confirmed! We have just lost multiple signals from the convoy tracking devices. They've all gone silent."

_"How many?"_ Admiral Yularen asked in near shock.

"A hundred and seventy five signals went dark, that's roughly ten different convoys that went off the grid simultaneously. This is a huge coordinated attack, and not enough battle groups are in range to cover them all. We're going to lose a few," the aide said in sorrow.

"Then we'll save as many as we can!" stated the admiral with conviction.

* * *

_**INS Challenger,**_

**Mustafar system**

The Commodore was taking a much needed powernap on his bed in his quarters with Kayla massaging his back when the intercom sounded with its annoying beeping. He groggily reached out to the intercom at the head of his bed and opened the internal channel.

"Whatever this is about it better be important!" Jack stated in annoyance and a slightly slurred tone.

_"Sir, multiple convoys have just been attacked across the galaxy, I've already got the battle group moving to intercept, but we need you up here,"_ reported Commander Hess in a slightly harried tone.

Immediately Jack sat up. "Time to intercept?"

_"Approximately three minutes."_

"Have all pilots get to their ships and prepare for a rapid launch, I want all primary squadrons in the air only seconds after we drop out of hyperspace, and bring all weapons online as well. I want to put as much hurt on these bastards as possible!"

_"Already done, sir, all we're waiting for is you."_

Jack smiled for a moment as he dried the oil off and put his uniform back on. "Very good Commander. I'll join you post haste."

"So much for a relaxing full body massage," Kayla said impishly as she put her own sheer black robe back on, which clung to her body in all the right places and became more see-through as the oils they had used soaked in.

"We'll continue this after the battle," he replied and planted a quick kiss on what he intended to be her cheek, but she turned her head at the last second and it landed square on her lips and quickly became a brief tongue wrestling match.

Reluctantly Jack disengaged and threw her roguish smile. "Minx," was all he said before his quarters armoured doors opened up and he left for the bridge, and enjoyed the pleasant after taste all the way up to the bridge. He came onto the Command Bridge with a confident stride and was happy to note that he had arrived before they had dropped out of hyperspace.

"Status report," he requested of his xo as he sat himself down into his Command Chair.

"All ships and fighters report ready for action, and we're seconds away from dropping out of hyperspace," Commander Hess reported as she took her place beside him. "If I may ask, why can't the xo of the ship have a comfy chair to sit in while in combat?" she asked sweetly.

"Because I need you down in the crew pit cracking the whip," he answered just before they dropped out of hyperspace. The battle was already in full swing. On one side the convoy, a group of fifteen bulk freighters with three Dreadnought class cruisers and six Nebulon-B class escort frigates as their escort. On the other was a large fleet of mostly Separatist warships and a number of small freighters. Their purpose for being here Jack could not really fathom.

"Scopes, number and types," Commander Hess demanded.

"Two Lucrehulk class battleships, two Providence class carrier/cruisers, one of them we have identified as the _Merchants Terror_, three Recusant class destroyers, six Munificent class frigates, and four old Trade Federation Missile Frigates. The convoy has been attacked by only the Missile Frigates and four of the Munificent class frigates, and numerous fighter attacks, the rest are hanging back and not, I say again, not engaging the convoy!" reported the officer in charge of the scopes.

"So, Csalas is leading this attack personally. That's rather unusual for him. He normally just sends enough forces to overwhelm his target quickly, and almost never brings himself and his flagship into direct combat, but from what I'm hearing he has over half his fleet committed here. You think we may have struck a nerve or two?" the Commodore asked his xo.

"Maybe. We have been hitting his pirates more often than not and cleaned his allies chronometers quite thoroughly. Perhaps he sees this as a way of getting some payback, or maybe he wants us out of his way," said Commander Hess musingly. She didn't like unresolved mysteries, and this pirate's actions were atypical of his MO.

"Alert, enemy vessels are deploying more droid fighters and boarding craft, heading for both us and the convoy," one of the scopes techs warned.

"Well, I guess he got impatient," commented Jack as he thumbed his communications console on his command chair's arm rests. "All fighters, intercept and engage the enemy bombers and boarding craft, they are now priority targets. All ships, launch anti-fighter cluster missiles. Lets thin out the crowd."

* * *

From banks of missile and torpedo batteries on all of the _Challenger_ battle group's ships, long ten metre by one metre tubes topped with sharp conical heads were magnetically accelerated to a high starting speed, then their small, but powerful, engines ignited with bright blue plasma plumes and accelerated. As they neared the halfway point the large missiles exhausted their fuel, then the outer casings split open and unleashed a hail of much smaller concussion missiles into the enemy's fighter ranks. The droid brains aboard the fighters quickly analyzed the incoming trajectories and took appropriate evasive action, but space was practically saturated with missiles that almost every single droid fighter in the first wave was wiped out.

This was the scene that greeted Razgriz Flight as they rocketed away from the _Challenger_.

_"Wohoo, look at all those little explosions, isn't it a beautiful sight?"_ crowed Chopper in delight over the radio.

"Calm yourself Chopper, there'll be plenty more droids for us to deal with in a moment," said Blaze.

_"All War-Dogs, listen up, check you scopes ahead. The _Challenger_ is sending us an update on our priority targets. Intercept and engage enemy boarding craft and bombers. Take them out any way you can!"_ ordered Captain Snow over the radio, and Blaze checked his scopes and saw a nice big juicy formation of fighters escorting a group of six Penetrator boarding craft, easily recognizing the dart shaped profiles.

"Razgriz, follow on my wing, I've got us a nice target to my two o'clock, thirty degree down angle," said Blaze as he shifted course, and the three other fighters in his flight followed on his flanks. War-Dog squadron split up into their three respective flights and went hunting. In a four fingered formation Razgriz flight dove right on top of the escorting fighters and took them out with a hail of blue laser fire, then continued on to the boarding ships. Blaze lined up the boarding craft in his targeting reticules, switched to missiles and let loose a pair of concussion missiles at his target. The boarding craft jinked left and right in an effort to throw off the missiles, but the range was so close that they had no chance. The first one hit and blasted off the heavy durasteel penetrator nose and the second hit the engine cluster, and detonated. A similar fate occurred to three more boarding craft, which in Blaze's mind was little more than a tiny distraction, as he brought his guns to bear on one of the last two, and cut loose. He pressed the triggers and kept shooting until the boarding craft broke up as Edge opened up with her own guns and blew away the last boarding craft.

"Good Kill, now let's move on to the next target," said Blaze as he turned his fighter towards the action.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge**

"First wave of enemy fighters have been destroyed, and our fighters have managed to intercept most of the enemy boarding craft," Commander Hess reported from the crew pit.

"Good. Relay to all ships, put us between the convoy and the larger group. Captain Macdougan is to take the _Dauntless_ and his escorts to engage the ships that are directly attacking the convoy, while we handle Csalas main fleet."

"Sir, he's going to be outnumbered almost two to one. Shouldn't we send more?" Commander Hess asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Commander, between him and the remaining escorts that are guarding the convoy he should be able to handle it," said Commodore Hawks confidently, but Commander Hess was still worried. "Commander, he can handle it!"

Reassured slightly she stood up straight and nodded to him. "Aye sir."

* * *

_**INS Dauntless**_

**Command Bridge**

Captain Macdougan acknowledged the Commodore's orders then broke off from the main group, along with his small group of ships, which included two of the CR90s, the Nebulon-B frigates _Daring_ and _Rapture_, and the Dreadnought class heavy cruiser _Renown_.

"Steady as she goes, helm. Send the corvettes and fighters forward to intercept enemy fighters. We can handle any that get past them," Captain Macdougan ordered.

Slowly the small force of six ships closed in. Immediately the missile frigates shifted half of their missile barrages straight at the incoming Imperial warships. In response all six ships began sending near constant streams of blue AA laser fire as both enemy fighters and missiles closed in. Like the first rush of water when a tsunami strikes, the missiles came first and was promptly destroyed by the near constant hail of gun fire being sent their way. The next wave was the droid fighters and the bombers they were escorting. The two corvettes moved forward along with the _Dauntless'_ fighter squadrons and began shooting the droids out of the sky in droves. They fell by the squadron as the corvettes and fighters worked together to bring them down.

Two of the Munificent class frigates broke off their engagement with the convoy's escort and moved to intercept the _Dauntless_ and its escorts.

"Sir, enemy frigates are closing in!" warned one of the bridge officers.

"Then let's clear our throats. Prepare to fire the bow chaser, target the lead frigate," Macdougan ordered.

"Aye sir," responded the tactical officer responsible for the long range guns.

On the bow of the Dauntless a set of heavy blast doors opened up and revealed a large bore cannon which began to glow an eerie blue as it charged up. With a flash it lanced out a powerful beam of pure destruction and pierced the shields of the lead frigate and kept going. It penetrated the metre thick armour plating all the way to one of its main reactors, then breached its containment shielding, unleashed the tightly controlled energy of the reactor and exploded, which destroyed half the frigate, and left it a wreck.

A cheer rose up amongst the bridge crew at the sight of the frigate exploded.

"Target has been destroyed!" the tactical officer reported.

"Good. Target the second one..." Suddenly the ship shook heavily and nearly threw him down to his knees. "Damage report?" he demanded.

"Heavy turbolaser barrage from the remaining frigate, they hit the bow chaser as it was powering up. The explosion we felt was the capacitors exploding when they were hit," reported an engineering officer in the crew pit.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way. Return fire!"

In retaliation the _Dauntless_ fired every turbolaser in near constant salvoes at the offending frigate, and launched six anti-ship proton torpedoes as soon as its shields were severely weakened. The first torpedo collapsed the already strained shields, the next five in the torpedo barrage penetrated the hull at different points along its starboard side and detonated inside, immolating the entire starboard side and pealed it open, leaving all the starboard side internals open to space.

The _Renown_ fired its own turbolaser barrage into the offending frigate's side and ended its pirate career as it consumed itself in secondary explosions.

"Both frigates have been destroyed, Captain," reported one of the sensor techs.

"Concentrate fire on the remaining frigates, get them between us and the convoy escorts, we'll get them in a crossfire," Captain Macdougan ordered.

Macdougan's group of ships accelerated forward and presented their bows forward for a full on frontal assault on the two remaining Munificent-class frigates who were now on the defensive as they turned broadside on to the two groups of Imperial ships. The remaining ships of the convoy escort, a pair of Dreadnoughts and four Nebulon-Bs, finally got a little breathing room as fire from the enemy was cut in half. The Missile Frigates continuously pumped out heavy concussion missiles as if they had endless amounts in stock at both groups, but more often than not the missiles got intercepted either by fighters or the point defences of the Imperial warships.

The _Dauntless_ was ablaze with blue weapons fire as Macdougan unleashed all the firepower he had at his disposal. Four DBY-827 turrets, lifted off a scrapped Venator class SD, spat several megatons of plasmatic energy per shot at the enemy, and pounded relentlessly at its target's shields, even as its torpedo blister unleashed more barrages. Like fast flying comets they crashed into the strained shields of the frigate, and they collapsed as the last torpedo hit, leaving the ship vulnerable to follow-up turbolaser barrages, which ravaged the hull and in seconds the frigate was nothing more than a flaming wreck.

Meanwhile the Missile Frigates commanders were getting worried, as the number of ships protecting them had dropped down to just one Munificent class frigate, which was now being attacked by the two fresh Nebulon-B frigates in a close range gun duel, and was losing badly as the _Renown_ joined in. In an act of defiance the Missile Frigates stepped up their missile launches. Dozens of missiles per second were filling up the space surrounding them, and most of them were programmed to lock onto the first available target not squawking a friendly IFF. Several V-Wing squadrons got caught up in the massive missile barrage and many went into several dizzying spirals attempting to break their targeting locks, but dozens still fell. An entire squadron was almost wiped out to the last man, and Captain Macdougan had enough, even as missiles began impacting his ship's shields.

"Redirect all available weapons fire on those missile frigate. I want those ships removed from my sight!" he ordered angrily.

"We can't sir, our main guns are starting to overheat, and our secondary and CIWS guns are climbing into the red, and our shields are starting to feel the strain," one of the engineering techs reported from the ship's crew-pit.

"Launch torpedoes, and power down heavy weapons. Use the freed up energy reserves to bolster the shields. Looks like we're going to have to weather this shit storm," said Captain Macdougan as he braced himself against the tactical holo-tank. "And start cycling the CIWS guns for cool-downs, odd numbered ones first, then switch to even numbered ones, you should have been doing that from the start!"

"Sorry sir, the computer..."

"Don't make excuses, just do it," Macdougan commanded sternly, and the officer did so.

Outside the missile barrage was being felt by everyone. Fighters were racing for cover behind their home ships. The capital ships were ablaze with weapons fire as they actively intercepted the missiles, but many still got through to strike heavily against the shields, and the corvettes were racing to escape the majority of the missile barrage as their own CIWS guns strained to gun down as many missiles as possible. It was bad luck for one of the corvettes that a trio of missiles managed to slip through the CIWS guns fire and hit one after another in the same place. The multi-nacelle engine block. The first two crippled its rear shields, then the last punched through the armour and detonated inside, which destroyed the engineering bay and set off the fuel tanks which proceeded to immolate the entire rear of the corvette and left the rest to be consumed by secondary explosions as smaller liquid tibanna tanks cooked off.

Several horrifying minutes later the missile barrage ended. The missile bays of the Missile Frigates had been drained dry. As he surveyed the damage done to his ships, Captain Macdougan gives into his anger for just a moment. "Destroy those ships. Ignore their surrender transmissions!"

Not one officer on the bridge refused the order. As one the remaining ships returned fire and burned the four Missile Frigates from stem to stern in a violent fury of turbolaser fire and missile and proton torpedo barrages, with the remains of the convoy escort ships joining in. The Missile Frigates put up a fight, but now their weapons were limited to only a few point defence laser cannons and a small number of quad turbolaser turrets. Their resistance was short lived.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge**

Onboard the _Challenger_ things were about to get even more tense as the main body of the battle group was about to engage the enemy fleet, but to brighten Commander Hess' day the report from the _Dauntless_ was most welcome.

"Well sir, it looks like you were right. Captain Macdougan's forces were enough," she reported happily as the Commodore took in the same report as his XO and the real-time tactical display updated.

"I told you he could do it. Have him regroup with us as soon as he can, we're going to need all the firepower we can muster against this fleet!" The Commodore was slightly worried. He had only three real heavy warships in his battle group, the rest being light to medium warships, while the pirates had somehow managed to get their hands on four big battle wagons plus some heavy escorts. He rose up from his command chair and headed for the CIC behind the bridge and took a closer look at the tactical holo-tank.

Right now it was a duel between fighters, and the droids were really being pushed back. The few droid fighters, bombers and boarding craft that had managed to get past the first squadrons had not managed to survive the gauntlet of the CIWS guns and secondary long range laser cannons that all of his ships were armed with.

The pirate fleet was grouped into a simple formation, with the lighter warships on the flanks and a heavy core of heavy warships, with the _Merchants Terror_ at the centre of the formation and heavily protected. Not one bomber squadron had been able to get through to cause any significant damage. He did have one advantage though. Long range gunnery.

"Ready bow chasers for long range ship killing duties, make sure our fighters are out of the lines of fire."

Commander Hess smiled at that. They were too far out for the standard turbolaser batteries to be effective, but they were well within range for the forward mounted beam turbolasers. "Aye sir," she replied with a grin and coordinated with both the ship's gunners as well as the _Endurance's_ captain for a simultaneous assault, but frowned when she received a brief damage report from the _Dauntless_. "Sir, the _Dauntless_ reports her bow chaser took some serious damage during the engagement. They will be unable to join in our attack."

"Then have Captain Macdougan concentrate on protecting the convoy and evicting the droids that have already boarded the freighters," the Commodore ordered, slightly disappointed at this development.

On the bows of both the _Challenger_ and the _Endurance_ heavy armoured doors revealed heavy SPHA beam turbolaser cannons, enlarged and more powerful than standard beam turbolasers and tied straight into the ships main reactors. In the _Challenger's_ case she had four, two mounted on the bow, just underneath the launch bay, while the second pair stuck out behind the engineering section and nestled along the sides of the hyperdrive tail. The _Dauntless_ and the _Endurance_ only had one mounted in their own bows, mainly due to the space required, and the excessive power requirements for even just one of those big guns, affectionately called the BFGs by the gunnery crews.

With an almost feral smile upon her lips Commander Hess chose the bow chasers targets, the trio of Recusant class destroyers, and even picked precisely where she wanted them to be hit. The gunners didn't quite know why, but orders were orders, and they knew better than to disobey the ships strict task mistress, lest they find themselves scrubbing down R2 units for the rest of their tour of duty.

Seconds later the gunnery crews reported to her the guns were ready, the warning was sent out to the affected fighter squadrons and Commander Hess reported to her Commodore. "Bow chasers locked on and ready to fire."

"Then by all means Commander. Fire at will!"

"Aye aye sir, fire at will," she called out to the crew pit and with the push of three separate buttons three bright blue beams of pure plasmatic destruction lanced out and connected the two Imperial warships to the three former Separatist Recusant class destroyers. The three lances of blue plasma reacted violently with the destroyers shields and broke through them in less than half a second, then proceeded to sever the spar that connected the destroyers three main engines and main reactors to the rest of the ship, and left them helpless to manoeuvre.

With a triumphant grin Commander Hess reported, "All three targets have been permanently crippled. Shall we finish them off?"

"Are they still able to fight?" the Commodore asked.

She checked with the scopes. "No sir, they are completely dead in the water. Without their main reactor and engine assemblies they only have enough reserve battery power to keep life support running."

"Good, then they'll be good for a salvage claim, after we have taken care of any battle droids aboard, but that can wait until after the battle. Concentrate fire on one of the Lucrehulks, I want them disabled if possible, but destroy them if necessary. I want to claim those ships as prizes," said Jack with a slightly gleeful tone of voice.

Commander Hess decided to tease her commanding officer a little as she mentally added credit signs to his eyes. "Careful sir, your mercenary fangs are showing."

That snapped him out of his slightly delusional state of mind and focused more on the moment instead of day dreaming about the money he was going to make on bringing in these pirates. "Good point Commander. Continue firing at will. Csalas made a really big error in judgement today and I intend to teach him the error of his ways, with my ships guns shoved down his proverbial throat."

"Aye sir," said Commander Hess happily as she relayed the Commodore's orders down through the chain of command.

* * *

_**Merchants Terror**_

**Same Time**

On the bridge of the _Merchants Terror_ Captain Arulo Csalas watched in his comfy command chair as his fleet was being systematically crippled or destroyed, and at that moment he felt true rage flow through him. The former Separatist officer, who had made his living off of piracy in the almost two years since the end of the Clone Wars, had become ever more filthy rich, along with his fellow captains who had elected him as his leader. Now he was seeing his tool of vengeance and profit being dismantled piece by piece, and the simultaneous crippling of three of his ships had not helped his blood pressure.

Behind his command chair stood a TX-series tactical droid that functioned as the ship's xo. In fact the ship was crewed by nothing more than droids, plus himself and his harem who were in his quarters nestled deep within the armoured bulkheads of his ship.

"Sir, our forces are being systematically destroyed. I calculate the enemy has a more than seventy percent chance of taking this ship. I advise retreat," the droid advised, but Captain Csalas had other ideas.

"No. Move the fleet forward in full attack formation. All guns are to fire for effect, and begin deployment of our fire-ships, code Firestorm," he ordered and the droid complied with the speed and preciseness of an automaton.

On one of the small light freighters a small group of blue colour coded B1 pilot droids received their orders.

"Roger roger, code Firestorm acknowledged. Begin preparations!"

The rest of the B1s went about their tasks, but like most B1s they couldn't help but comment upon their situation.

"Well, looks like we're about to meet the maker," commented the lead droid.

"I know. Our masters are so cruel," commented another.

"I still can't seem to hit anything," said another that was aiming the ships laser cannons.

All this chatter was heard over the comm. channels and Captain Csalas was glad that after this all of his old annoying B1s would be gone.

The pirate fleet moved forward with all cannons blazing, they didn't care that the range was too far to effectively hit anything, but it was a good distraction as the light freighters moved out on the flanks of the attacking pirates. They flew a wide path so as to avoid the majority of the crossfire and soon enough they were in position, surrounding the battle group on four sides.

"The freighters are now in position," reported the tactical droid.

"Then tell them to engage!" Csalas ordered angrily as one of his last two Munificent class frigates got skewered by a pair of beam turbolaser lances and exploded.

With a massive surge of acceleration seventy five light freighters of various designs dived straight into the battle. Almost immediately heavy weapons fire was redirected from the pirates against the new threat, but to the surprise of the Imperials the freighters shields held back the massive volleys sent their way, just long enough for them to detach their cargo modules they had attached to their hulls, which instantly blossomed into tens of thousands of missiles, and Csalas watched with glee as the _Challenger_ and its battle group struggled to keep up with his special missile saturation attack he and his cohorts had cooked up.

"Yes, burn _Challenger_, burn. Burn until your nothing more than a burned out shell, and you, Commodore Jack Hawks. You will burn for all the misery you have inflicted upon me!" Captain Csalas thought out loud, while the droids around him ignored their captain's maniacal musings as they continued in their assigned tasks like the thoughtless automatons they were.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge**

The scene that now greeted Commodore Jack Hawks was almost as terrifying as the one time he had nearly lost the _Challenger_ at the Battle of Falleen during the Clone Wars. He felt nearly paralyzed with fear as he saw tens of thousands of missiles come towards him and his people. The one to snap him out of it was none other than his own XO as she shouted, "CLOSE BLASTDOORS NOW!" and heavy beskar enhanced durasteel armour plates dropped into place with loud clangs of metal on metal, and holographic images overlaid themselves over the now armour covered viewports.

Streams of blue pulses shot out from the hundred CIWS guns that were emplaced strategically all over the ship. Their own sensors and interlinked droid brains identified the missiles that would present the most dangerous threat to the ship and automatically engaged their targets, but there was another problem.

"Sir, CIWS guns are starting to overheat," cautioned the officer who supervised the point defences for the _Challenger_. "They'll hold for a while longer, but if this goes on for much longer the guns will cease to function."

"I thought that problem had been solved?" the Commodore queried as a missile slipped through and impacted the shields which shook the ship slightly.

"Only partially solved, sir. The engineers solved it by improving the cooling systems and added more guns to decrease the workload, but there are so many incoming targets from almost all directions that all of our guns are having to be used, and we're barely keeping up!" the same officer reported back.

"What about the rest of the battle group?"

"They're experiencing the same problem," Commander Hess reported. "Those freighters just launched so many that they're nearly overwhelming us."

"Then we'll just have to weather this out," said Jack as his thoughts went several thousands of kilometres per second. _"This missile barrage must've cost old Csalas a pretty penny and I doubt that he could have many more of these barrages left. I just hope I'm right."_

One after another red hot CIWS guns fell silent as they automatically shut down for cool down, by venting coolant around the barrels that took away the waste heat, but it was a time consuming process. In the meantime missiles began to impact on all sides of the _Challenger_ and slowly weakened the shields. Across the battle group the ships felt the pressure of the incoming missiles as they shot down missiles or they impacted on their shields. Suddenly the Nebulon-B frigate _Surprise_ manoeuvred out of escort position.

"What is Captain Castillo doing?" the Commodore asked the room as the ship shook again, but this time from a turbolaser barrage from the approaching pirate fleet.

"He's moving to intercept a group of twelve light freighters, they are moving in on a collision course. He's positioned his own ship in their path and is engaging them," reported Commander Hess as the _Surprise_ opened up with its main turbolaser batteries, even as its point defence laser cannons flashed with green streams of fire against incoming missiles intended for the _Challenger_. Several of the light freighters were destroyed, but three still managed to get through and rammed into the escort frigate. The first one crashed into the bow and temporarily overloaded the shields, which let the second one ram amidships, right where the connecting spar met the forward hull, while the third crashed into the engineering section, which luckily had independent shield generators which saved the ship from destruction, but left the _Surprise_ damaged.

Seconds later the missile barrage was finally over, but there was another problem. The pirates had closed the distance. With the suddenness of a lightning strike several angry red turbolaser barrages hammered the _Surprise_ and blew the hole made by the light freighter in the side wider still, until the connecting spar broke off from the forward hull. Several secondary explosions went along the hull from the hole and turbolaser blasts blew more fiery craters in the ship's hull. The escort frigate began to careen out of control as the two separated sections were being blasted, the forward section more so than the engineering section as escape pods and shuttles began evacuating the ship and headed for the closest ship, which happened to be the _Challenger_.

Everyone on the bridge could only look on in horror as they watched their comrades sacrifice, but they soon had more pressing matters as the remains of the _Surprise_ exploded and rained down a large amount of debris upon the _Challenger_ and several other ships surrounding the destroyed escort frigate. The shields flared a brilliant blue as debris impacted and the strain on the shields was almost back breaking and several alarms sounded, which prompted a call from engineering.

_"Engineering to bridge, what the hell is going on up there? The shields are taking an awful strain,"_ said Chief Engineer Ganto in a very stressed out tone.

"One of our own ships just exploded practically right next to us," said Commander Hess before the Commodore could respond. "Just take care of engineering, we've got our hands full up here," she commanded quite forcefully. "All batteries return fire. Get the bastard that destroyed the _Surprise_!"

"Helm, turn us bow on towards that Providence class carrier, make sure all our forward facing batteries has a clear shot at it!" Commodore Hawks ordered and the helmsman complied.

As fast as the thrusters could fire the ship turned its bow towards the offending enemy warship, then unleashed a hail of turbolaser fire as the bow chasers fired and hit the carrier's main shield generators. Explosions rippled across the hull as blue turbolaser fire struck in fiery vengeance, though it gave as good as it got. Red turbolaser fire also rained down upon the _Challenger_, but not just from that one ship, but from every pirate ship in range.

"Sir, that Providence is closing in on us. I think it's trying for a broadside run. Also I've managed to identify it. According to Imperial records it's called the _Tempo Diablo_, last seen during the Clone Wars at the Battle of Coruscant, one of the few Separatist heavy warships to survive," reported a technician in the crew pit to Commander Hess.

"Which side is it heading towards?" she asked.

"They'll be along our portside in less than two minutes."

As quick as a flash Commander Hess keyed in the PA system. "All hands, brace for heavy fire, all marines prepare to counter boarding parties. Flight deck, any fighters you've got ready to launch, you've got one minute before we have to close the main doors, so you've got to kick'em out!" she commended.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Hangar Deck**

"Alright people, you all heard the dragon lady, let's get these planes into the fight ASAP. MOVE IT!" yelled the deck officer across the hangar PA system as Blaze watched his fighter get resupplied then moved along the magnetic guidelines on the deck as his fighter floated on its repulsorlifts.

"Okay, Razgriz flight, we're going to be the last to launch it seems so rev up your engines for a hard burn from the _Challenger_. Sounds like she's going into a gun duel and I do not want any of us caught in such a firestorm. Am I clear?" Blaze asked over the private channel.

_"Clear as crystal!"_ responded Edge.

_"Like hell I'm going to end my life like that!"_ said Chopper cockily.

_"I'm with you all the way, skipper,"_ said Archer a little anxiously.

"Good, 'cause here we go!" said Blaze as his Z-95 was taxied to the launch deck, then with a combination of magnetic guidance fields and his own engine thrust, he and his three companions rocketed away from the _Challenger_ and was greeted to the sight of a fast approaching Providence class carrier/destroyer that was spitting out great gouts of flaming red turbolaser fire. The four Razgriz Z-95s banked hard to starboard and got back into the massive fighter duel that was still going on in between the capital ships.

All four felt the turns they were pulling as they went after a group of four droid Tri-fighters that were gunning for another squadron of Y-Wings, who were desperately using their turret guns to shoot them down, but with little luck. Blaze and his three companions slid up upon the droid fighters and unleashed their own hellish blazes of blue hail before they could react and blew them away.

_"Yes, that's my fourteenth kill today,"_ crowed Chopper. _"One more and I'll make Ace three times over today."_

_"Don't get so cocky Chopper, I've already made Ace four times,"_ Edge shot back. _"Two more and it'll be five times over."_ One could almost hear the smile she wore.

"Watch out. Enemy bombers at our eight o'clock, twenty degrees down angle. Stay on my wing," Blaze rapidly ordered to get his pilots back in the game as he put his fighter into an extremely tight port turn and rolled. He let off a single concussion missile from his port launcher, which quickly accelerated away and hit the Hyena bomber dead centre in the bomb bay, which detonated its payload of deadly proton bombs and incinerated it. The rest of Razgriz followed suit and downed one Hyena each, leaving four more to go. Blaze saw that he was too close for a missile to be worth using, so switched to guns and let loose a long burst of blue laser that shredded his target, then proceeded to down another pair with guns before Edge stole his last kill.

_"Come on man, you two can't just keep stealing our kills,"_ Chopper lamented.

"Can it, Chopper. This is war and our job is to take as many enemies down as possible, then come home alive!" Blaze retorted. He quickly checked his scopes, then his immediate surroundings through his fighter's cockpit and saw where they ended up. They had come right back towards the _Challenger_ and was treated of a view of her exchanging broadsides with the Providence class carrier/destroyer, and both were tearing chunks of shields and armour off each other, but it was obvious the former Separatist warship was getting the rougher side of the exchange as the _Challenger's_ main gun batteries and side-mounted broadside artillery guns tore huge chunks of armour and hull out of it. "Follow my lead, let's add to that Separatist's woes."

Blaze lead his flight through the incoming flack to the rear mounted dorsal tail and the observation pod mounted to it. They each launched a pair of concussion missiles straight for the pod, which slammed straight through the armoured windows and detonated inside, which made it bulge out and blew out all of the remains of the large panoramic view ports. They then veered off and headed for the main hull starboard side of the Providence, now labelled as the _Tempo Diablo_, and stuck as close to it as possible as they took out any gun emplacements they could with cannons and missiles. They soon caught the attention of a section of Vulture droids that were on their way back to rearm and refuel, but as their programming dictated they attacked.

Lock-on warning alarms blared throughout all four black-and-red Z-95s cockpits as the Vultures closed in and launched their own concussion missiles.

"Shit! Razgriz, split up and engage those bandits," Blaze ordered and they acknowledged with simple double clicks over their radios. Blaze split off with Edge while Chopper took Archer with him. They both pulled extremely tight turns to keep the enemy scanners from locking on to them, trusting in their fighters, their ECM gear and their skills to keep them safe. Unfortunately the lock-on warning became one long tone, indicating missile lock.

"Edge reverse engines in 3..." He began.

_"I don't think this is a good idea,"_ Edge warned Blaze as she braced herself for a possible collision.

"2." They both began to spin as chaff and flares were prepared.

"1!" They both reversed their thrust while spinning and deployed chaff and flares, just as the Vulture droids following them launched their missiles, but instead of the fighters they instead went after the flares. Both organic pilots felt the Gs they pulled as they let the Vultures pass them and nearly collided. With shit eating grins they both opened up with their guns and let loose a withering hail of blue laser cannon fire upon their former pursuers and tore them apart.

They quickly caught up with Chopper and Archer after they had taken care of their own tormentors.

_"I swear those droids are becoming ever more suicidal,"_ the burly Mantellian pilot commented.

"That's just how they're programmed." Blaze took his flight back around and got a birds-eye view of the broadside exchange between the two titans of battle, and both ships hulls were aflame, but the _Tempo Diablo_ was clearly the one that was losing, as the fires were completely out of control, and explosive decompressions were rippling across much of the mauled vessel's portside, while the Challenger seemed to have only superficial damage, evidenced by the fact that only the outer reactive armour had been burned off, and hadn't even penetrated to the beskar reinforced durasteel armour belt.

Blaze felt only a moment's pity as he lead his flight after another squadron of vulture droids.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Commodore's quarter**

Within the quarters of the commander of the _Challenger_ battle group his loyal servant Kayla Macula sat on a well broken in circular meditative platform, still wearing the same black, see-through robes, still moist with oil, and sat cross legged and her breathing was slow and regular. She was the very image of a calm and collected Jedi Knight that used to go by the name of Aayla Secura, even as the ship shook heavily and alarms blared, she was not disturbed, nor moved, but inside she was troubled. She had opened her senses completely and within her mind's eyes she could see everything that was going on and she was once again in pain, nothing like what she felt during the Jedi Massacre, but still the pain of so many dying aboard the escort frigate _Surprise_ still cut into her heart.

She felt that she should do something, but couldn't. The risk of detection by the Emperor and Vader was too great. All she could do was passively watch as the battle unfolded. She faintly felt something. There was a third party to this battle, someone was watching while being unseen. She focused her senses and tried ever so gently to see the one observing the battle, keeping a tight rein upon herself as she sent her own tendrils through the Force, and after many minutes of careful searching she found it. A ship, cloaked from both the battle group and the pirates eyes.

It was close by, and she couldn't sense any other dark presences within several thousand light years. She felt she could risk it. She looked inside and saw the person in charge, a female blue skinned alien with red eyes and carbon black hair tied up into a tight bun and wore a grey military uniform, but the insignia was unfamiliar to her. The insignia and the cut of the uniform vaguely reminded her of her studies into the Ancient Sith Empire, but that was impossible. The Sith Empire imploded on itself over a thousand years ago.

She decided to take another risk and touched the woman's mind. She only got skin deep before she slammed into a wall that seemed to have been made from beskar reinforced durasteel.

"Who dares enter my mind?" a strong female voice sounded all around her.

"My name is Kayla Macula, a slave in service to Commodore Jack Hawks, commander of the _Challenger_ battle group. Who are you, and why are you observing my master's fleet?" she questioned just as strongly, even as she felt the woman's counter attack.

"You lied to me twice just now, why should I give my name to someone who attempted to break into my mind and is an apparent liar?" She pushed back hard against Aayla's mental barriers, which made her real body sweat, and nearly broke through, though she obviously managed to get a glimpse of her true identity. "So, you're a survivor of Order 66, your real name is Aayla Secura and your playing the role of slave to hide from Palpatine's agents. Not a bad plan, but leaves you and your accomplice vulnerable if you are discovered. You're lucky that we are so far from Coruscant that he hasn't detected our little exchange, yet. I suggest we terminate our link. If you want to learn more about us I suggest you visit the Nyx Cantina on Nar Shadaa. There is another there that can help you learn more, but be warned. We don't suffer betrayal lightly."

With that the link was cut and Aayla was left gasping for breath as she tried to calm down her racing heart, her body now soaked in a cold sweat that had washed away the warming oil and began shivering uncontrollably, as if she had just stepped out of a blizzard on Hoth, naked.

Thoughts raced through her mind faster than the speed of light.

_Who was that woman? Was she a Sith? Or maybe something else? Possibly an Imperial ploy?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ship's intercom and intruder alert alarms blaring.

_"All hands, prepare to repel boarders, enemy boarding craft have managed to penetrate the portside hangar bay, all available marines report to the portside hangar bay,"_ the voice of Commander Hess blared out across the ship, and Aayla felt completely useless as she stayed put in the Commodore's quarters. In that moment she made a decision that would shape her for years to come.

_It's time for me to leave the Challenger._

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Portside hangar bay, minutes earlier**

Apart from the occasional shakeup from a heavy weapons hit it was relatively peaceful in the hangar bay, but that peace was suddenly shattered as the crewmen heard something clamp down hard onto the sealed hangar doors. Then an electric sizzle began and four points of light stabbed their way through the thick doors, then all four curved around ninety degrees and made a circle roughly three metres in width. After that several directed explosions detonated and launched the cut away portion of the door across the hangar. Several crewmen who were working there took cover and drew their service blasters while the crew supervisor called for backup.

Out of the hole came several squads of BX commando droids who proceeded to slaughter everyone in the hangar bay with both blasters and vibro-swords. The ordinary crewmen put up a good fight, one of them managed to kill one with a lucky headshot, but help didn't come soon enough, and everyone lay dead on the deck as the commando droids split up into four man fire teams and proceeded to scatter throughout the ship.

Two decks above Commander Max and his squad of eight ARC Troopers were running hard, trying to intercept the commando droids before they could complete whatever sabotage they had planned. Behind them the sound of three droidekas rolling could be heard and Max and his squad of ARC Troopers were hard pressed to ignore the instinct to blast them from existence.

As they turned the next corner they skidded to a halt right behind a quad of commando droids that were standing there in ready ambush positions, problem for the droids was that they were facing the wrong direction.

"Enemy clones behind us, engage," ordered the lead commando just before it got blasted in the head by Max with his DC-17 blaster rifle, and the same happened with the rest of the commando droids. Max and his squad of troopers were then forced to take cover when another commando fire team ran up and opened fire, all dual wielding blasters. At that moment the three rolling droidekas rolled forward and instantly opened up, locked their weapons into place and raised their ray shields. The commando droids instantly focused their fire on the biggest threat, the three droidekas. At that moment the three droidekas opened up with a lethal barrage of blaster cannon fire. One of the enemy droids had the misfortune of being too far out of cover and got consequently the full attention of one of the droidekas and took multiple blaster cannon shots from head to toe that left it a crumbled blackened mess on the deck.

Max gestured for his ARC Troopers to move forward as the droidekas kept the commando droids pinned in cover. One of the commandoes leaned out of cover for a second and fired off a shot which only glanced off Max's armoured left upper arm and left another blackened scar on his well used and pockmarked armour. He retaliated with his own blaster and shot the head off of the offending commando droid. The last two commando droids put up their own stiff resistance, but eventually fell when both got perforated by high powered blaster bolts from both the ARCs and the droidekas.

"It sure is nice to have rollers on our side for a change," commented one of the ARC Troopers, nicknamed Digger. He wore standard ARC Trooper armour with a dark grey, off white digital pattern that was just as pockmarked and well used as Commander Max's own.

"Let's move it boys, we've still got a droid infestation to eradicate," said Max as they set off once again down the hall.

Several decks down below and further aft of the ship four droidekas stood guard of the main entrance to the engine room with full shields and weapons deployed and ready, along with a couple of squads of clone marines, all pure Kaminoan Jango clone veterans, who had taken cover behind the ray shields of the droidekas. Eight commando droids came rushing at the defenders and threw thermal grenades to clear out the droidekas and clones. The droidekas opened up with their blaster cannons and cut loose, sparing a few of their shots for the incoming grenades which detonated halfway to their targets, while shooting at the nimble commando droids that were proving to be hard targets to hit accurately. Through an interlinked combat networked the four droidekas opted for a simple saturation barrage, while the stormtroopers opened up with their new E-11 blaster rifles, firing in short triple-shot bursts, all aiming to take out the heads of the commandoes, most only managed to hit the armoured torso to little effect.

"Damn it, I hate commando droids, and I hate these new blasters. They just don't have enough punch," lamented one of the clone marines as he fired his weapon again.

"I know. All I'm getting is torso hits," agreed another. "If I try to aim for the droids heads the shot often goes wide. I think after this I'll go down to the weapons-smiths and ask them for either my old DC-15S back or modify this damned thing to be more accurate," he continued as he sent another three-shot burst into another commando droid.

"Good luck getting it back, all of the DC series blasters that were reserved for us regular marines were either destroyed or sold on the open market."

More commandoes came running towards them and the clones merely glanced at each other before they all simultaneously aimed and pulled the triggers. Forgetting finesse they simply aimed centre of mass and kept shooting on full auto until they breached the commando droids tough armoured shell and tore their insides apart. Several more moved into cover and continued blasting, one clone got a trio of shots in the chest plate and went down in a crumbled heap. The death of a comrade only made the clones more determined to hold their position and protect the engine room.

Behind the droids several blue blaster shots rang out and took out a pair of commando droids before they knew that they were being attacked from behind. The commandoes were now caught in a lethal crossfire, and several were completely confused, not knowing where the attack was coming from they entered the clones line of fire and were cut down with a blistering volley of blaster fire. Acrid smoke billowed from the smouldering remains as Commander Max and his ARC Troopers came walking through it.

"Report!" Max barked out and the marines instantly came to rigid attention.

"Sir, area is secured, just a few commando droids that tried to rush the door. The engineers made sure that this door was the only way in or out."

"How can you be sure that it is secure," said Max as he instantly brought up his rifle, spun around and fired off a single shot that blew the head off a still working commando droid. "Always make sure that your targets have been completely taken out."

"Yes sir," said the marine stiffly.

"Alright, you boys hold the fort here while we continue clearing out the infestation," concluded Commander Max as he and his ARC Troopers sped off again, responding to another report of enemy droids.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge**

Meanwhile back on the Command Bridge Commodore Hawks was concentrating on the battle outside his ship. His ship was still in the middle of a horrific broadside exchange with the _Tempo Diablo_, and it didn't look to be ending anytime soon, and on top of that minutes earlier a boarding craft managed to burn its way through the portside hangar bay doors and put several platoons worth of commando droids on his ship.

_Note so self; get those doors reinforced with beskar the moment I get back home,_ he thought to himself, before he remembered that his father had told him that their pre-war stockpiles of beskar had been nearly drained to provide needed materials to reinforce the ships main armour. _Further note to self, make a deal with the mandalorians for more beskar._

The ship shook heavily as the enemy warship fired off another barrage of proton shells and hit all along the portside of the _Challenger_, which shook the ship from stem to stern.

"Damn it, gunners, target the enemy warship's weapons and command bridge, I want that ship out of action now!" he angrily ordered.

A chorus of "Aye sir" followed from the crew pit and the guns intensified their fire on said locations.

Several decks below, along the portside trench one of several batteries of five artillery guns were firing their own proton rounds at the _Tempo Diablo_ in their own personal gun duel with the droid gunners. Each gun fired a round every three seconds and the noise they made was deafening, and heat and steam radiated from the gun barrels. Each gun was controlled by a single gunner that was seated in a seat mounted to the side of the gun and a crew of three technicians made sure the guns were operating smoothly and were also standing by to manually service the gun if the auto-loader failed. Proton rounds were brought up from armoured magazines a deck below which fed into the auto-loaders and loaded rounds in quick and smooth motions.

Each round could be configured by the individual gunners for different purposes before they launch the round. Most gunners choose standard high explosive rounds. One gunner however heard the command for taking out the target's weapons. While the rest aimed their guns for the weapons themselves he choose to target the ships ammo, or more specifically the ammo for the mass drivers which was stored in armoured ammo bunkers behind the gun decks. To hit this target he needed the right type of warhead. He reset the parameters for his next six rounds and took aim. One after the other he launched them down the barrel of his mass driver, barely aware of the cacophony of cannon blasts as he entered the zone, feeling the mechanisms that slotted in the next round and aimed for his next target and watched the results of his work.

As the rounds impacted instead of just exploding in a rough sphere of rapidly expanding hot plasma, it took the form of a jet which quickly burned through the thinner outer hull, through the void and into the inner armoured hull and penetrated into the ammo stores. The moment the superheated plasma hit the ammo it exploded, and in turn detonated the combined ammo stores for all of the portside mass driver cannons. Instantly the entire portside face of the _Tempo Diablo_ was blown wide open and looked like a roughly peeled piece of fruit.

The gunner could only stare in open mouthed astonishment of what he had just accomplished as he watched the ship reel from the lethal wound he had just inflicted upon it. Several smaller secondary explosions blossomed along the side as lines of liquid tibanna exploded or small fuel tanks cooked off.

On the bridge Jack could only watch in shocked awe at what his crew had been able to do, even as a barrage from one of the _Challenger's_ heavy turbolaser turrets opened up with its own barrage on the bridge of the offending warship, ignited the atmosphere inside and destroyed it, with several droids sent flying into space, waving their arms comically as they tumbled out.

"Enemy warship has sustained critical damage, sir, it's listing," reported Commander Hess in satisfaction, imagining the look of outright fury upon the face of Arulo Csalas. She didn't have to imagine long because someone was hailing them. "Sir, enemy flagship is hailing us, its Captain Csalas himself," she said in surprise as the once handsome face, now decidedly twisted by rage, of their enemy appeared on the large forward monitor.

_"Commodore Jack Hawks, you may think you have had a victory here, but know this! All you have done is cause me to focus all of my attention on you! I swear upon my life's blood that I will hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy. You will feel my wrath, and those bitches of yours will be my playthings, and I will make you watch as I take apart your ship piece by piece and sell it off..."_

At that point Commander Hess cut the channel. "Sorry sir, I just can't stand disgusting little boys."

"Neither can I Commander. Target the bastards bridge with the bow chasers, let's put him out of our misery, permanently!"

"Aye sir! Bow chasers, target enemy flagship's bridge, fire when ready!"

Once again the doors for the _Challenger's_ bow chasers opened up and presented their guns for firing. Both made some adjustments to their alignment, then charged up with a bright blue glow, then unleashed their energy in a pair of high energy plasma lances that converged upon their target. The _Merchants Terrors_ command bridge. The shields glowed and rippled like water as the immense energies of the two converging beams hit with enough force to penetrate a standard Imperial class Star Destroyer's shields, but to the shock and surprise of everyone the shields held.

"What the hell happened?" Commander Hess demanded of her gunners.

"I don't know, the guns worked exactly as they did when we crippled those Recusant class destroyers, we should have cut through those shields like wet tissue paper."

"I might have an answer, sir," one of the sensor techs said.

"Go ahead lieutenant," Commodore Hawks prompted.

"I just did a thorough scan of the _Merchants Terror_. It seems that Csalas has installed a couple of extra reactors in the bow of his ship, both seem to have dumped a lot of extra energy into his forward shield grid. That's what's enabled his ship to survive a full on attack from our bow chasers, but there seems to be a drawback. His forward emitters have been severely taxed," he said as he brought up a close up view of the _Merchants Terror's_ bow and along the sides of the nose a few lines of hexagonal panelling, the ship's shield emitters, were emitting black smoke. "I guess the strain of so much energy being dumped into them, as well as our attack nearly burned out his forward shield emitters. One more blast and his shields will be cooked."

"Continue fire, all guns, and load all forward launch tubes with the biggest and most powerful anti-ship torpedoes we've got in storage, concentrate fire on their forward shields. What's the status of the two Lucrehulks," the Commodore asked as an afterthought.

"They're both still on the flanks of the of the _Merchants Terror_. Our fighters are having a tough time getting through their flack to launch their missiles and torpedoes. It's like a hail storm mixed with a tornado in there," reported one of the tactical officers.

"Tell Captain Richter to keep hitting those Lucrehulks with his bow chaser as hard and as often as he can, without blowing his own ship up in the process," Commodore Hawks ordered.

"Both the _Endurance_ and the _Dauntless_ are already engaging the Lucrehulk designated as L1," reported the tactical officer. As a confused look passed over the Commodore's face he elaborated. "Both Lucrehulk class ships are not in any of our databases. They might have been new builds that weren't commissioned into the Separatist navy, or maybe he stole them from the Neimoidians, or more likely he got them from the Hutts," the tactical officer theorized.

A powerful turbolaser blast hit the command bridge at that moment, which made everyone stumble to the deck and almost threw the Commodore and everyone seated out of their seats. "We can theorize all we want about the origins of those ships after the battle is won! Gunners, set all turbolasers to salvo fire on the _Merchants Terror_, ignore the Lucrehulks for the moment." He thumbed his communications console and opened a channel to the fighter and bomber squadrons. "All fighters, listen up. I want all of you to concentrate your attacks upon the two Lucrehulks designated as L1 and L2 and the droid fighters. Your targets are their external weapons arrays, shield generators and engines, ignore the _Merchants Terror_ for now, leave it to us."

* * *

**Z-95 Headhunter, Razgriz 1, Blaze.**

"Alright lady and boys you heard the Commodore, let's concentrate on the enemy interceptors. They've been going after the Y-Wings pretty heavily, so let's give them a hand," said Blaze as he led his squadron into the rapidly degenerating fur-ball.

_"All War Dogs, listen up. I want a full weapons and fuel check from everybody still alive,"_ the squadron leader, Captain Snow, ordered.

"Sir, I'm at 75% fuel status, and I've used roughly half of my missile ordinance, no damage to report," Blaze reported.

_"Same here, except fuel status is at 76%,"_ Edge reported smugly.

_"I've used roughly two thirds of my missiles and I'm down to 72% of my fuel, and no damage that I can tell,"_ Chopper reported.

_"I've still got two thirds of my missiles left and 74% of my fuel, but I've taken a couple of hits to my starboard wing, but they appear to be only burn marks. Chopper can you confirm?"_ the young Archer reported and asked.

Chopper eased his fighter over to Archer's starboard flank and dipped his port wing to get a better view. _"I can confirm that its only a pair of glancing blows, most likely done by a droid fighter's laser cannons, or maybe by a stray flack round. The kid can still fly."_

_"Acknowledged Razgriz flight,"_ said Captain Snow.

"Guys, we've got ourselves a vulture droid squadron not too far away, highlighting them now," said Blaze as target designator rings lighted up around several sharp arrowhead shaped fighter markers on the flight's scopes.

_"I see them Blaze, I suggest we go in from their relative high and attack them from above, they're so fixated on those Y-Wings that they won't see us coming until we've already killed them,"_ Edge recommended.

"I like it! Razgriz, follow on my wing," Blaze ordered as they skimmed along the surface of the Lucrehulk battleship they had just made a strafing run on, then accelerated away towards a section of vulture droids that were on the tail of some very frantic Y-Wings. Blaze lined for a long range missile kill, locked on and then launched a missile from his fighter's port magnetic launcher. The missile ignited shortly after launch and accelerated away from the fighter, along with three others launched from the rest of Razgriz flight. All four flew gracefully and were bang on target as one after another they impacted centre of mass on the vulture droids and blew them up.

_"This is Section 3 of Bomber Squadron 4, thanks for the assistance. Closing on target, opening torpedo tube doors,"_ said the leader of the section of Y-Wings as they closed in on their target, a cluster of quad turbolasers that was currently busy shooting at the _Dauntless_. With flak exploding all around them the Y-Wings launched a pair of torpedoes each from their forward launch tubes, which flew straight and true and impacted heavily upon the turbolaser cluster. The first one destroyed the local shield generator, and before other generators could take up the slack and close the wide open hole the rest of the torpedoes flew in and punched through the lightly armoured quad turrets and into the hull, and detonated inside, which made it bulge out and destroyed a huge section of the vessels hull and several more clusters of turbolasers, missile launcher and mass accelerators.

_"Bulls eye, every shot counted,"_ reported the clone commander of the Y-Wings as they peeled off and headed towards their next target, with Razgriz flying right behind them.

"We're on your six S3S4, we'll keep the bad guys off your tails until we get new orders," said Blaze as he rolled his fighter and launched another missile at a Vulture droid.

_"Acknowledged Razgriz, our fighter escort got separated from us a little while ago, it'd be nice to fly with an escort again."_

With that they dived once again into the flak filled spaces between the enemy warships.

* * *

AN: I've decided that this was a good spot to end this chapter, but don't worry, the next one is coming soon. Enjoy, and please give me your thoughts.


	9. Humbling the Pirate King

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 9: Humbling the Pirate King**

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge**

On the Command Bridge it was controlled chaos as reports came in and the tactical officers were barely able to process the information coming in from the various ships and fighters that were fighting. It was into this barely controlled chaos that Commander Max stepped into and was barely able to comprehend it. He was a Special Forces operative, not a fleet commander. He quickly spotted the Commodore standing at the tactical holo-tank in the CIC behind the Command Bridge.

"Max, make it quick," the Commodore snapped out, which nearly startled the seasoned ARC trooper. He hadn't even turned around to face him from his study of the holo-tank.

"We cornered the last of the Commando droids in one of the ship's laundry rooms. The enemy droid presence has been purged."

"Very good Commander, assemble your men for boarding operations. I want you to take control of Csalas' capital ships, and I want you to personally lead the mission to capture the _Merchants Terror_, and if you or your men see him, your orders are to terminate, with extreme prejudice, am I clear," the Commodore ordered, with absolutely no room for misinterpretation.

"Crystal clear, sir," Commander Max responded with a snap salute and began marching towards the nearest turbolift. Along the way he asked a crewman, "What's happened to make the Commodore give such an order?"

The young crewman grew nervous as he glanced towards the Commodore. "The _Surprise_ was destroyed a few minutes ago, just after saving this ship from a few kamikaze light freighters. She survived the kamikazes, but the Merchants Terror destroyed her with a turbolaser barrage, and even targeted a few of the _Surprise's_ escape pods. As you can tell, the Commodore is pissed off, to put it mildly."

Commander Max's eyes widened in understanding, "Thank you, crewman?"

"Daniels, sir."

"Crewman Daniels, Carry on." Max continued to the turbolift and took it down to the ship's barracks, where his platoon of ARC Troopers and Clone Marines were currently billeted. He quickly arrived to the sight of several ARC Troopers and marines checking their weaponry and armour for damage.

"Hey Commander, we got another mission?" his second asked, ARC Captain Digger, or CT-2199 as he is officially registered.

"We just got the job of boarding and taking over three former Separatist warships. So buckle up your armour and load up your blasters boys, we're going hunting," Max said with a shit eating grin, which was mirrored by the other ARC Troopers in his squad, but the marines were a little more subdued.

"Captain Digger, you'll be in charge of taking control of the Lucrehulk battleship designated L1, Captain Cutter you'll be in charge of taking L2, while I will be taking the big prize, the _Merchants Terror_," Commander Max said after he moved over to a nearby holo-tank that they used for planning sessions. "Your way of entry will be by Nu class assault shuttles. You'll burn your way into the hull and fight your way to the command decks, blast everything that moves, but also check your fire, we don't want to set off any heavy ordinance that might be lying around, and you've all heard of Csalas's extracurricular activities. I believe I don't need to remind you about his activities?"

They all nodded in acknowledgment, remembering what they had found on previous boarding actions of Csalas's freighters in previous engagements.

"Alright boys, let's get to our boarding craft, and for the Force's sake, remember the rules of engagement!"

The ARC Troopers and marines saluted then moved with purpose as they put on their combat helmets checked that all of their sensors were working properly then followed their commander down the main hangar. Ninety clone troopers in locked step was a sight to behold as they marched towards their destination. Three Nu-class attack shuttles waited for them. All covered in a black material with silver highlights and armed with roof mounted missile launchers, similar to the LAAT/i, a pair of side-mounted laser cannons and single laser cannon guarded the rear.

They all rushed up the forward ramps and strapped themselves into the hull and centreline seats at the same time as the pilots and co-pilots made their final checks. Max was the last to board, and he made his way to the rear of the shuttle, checking over his men as he passed, happy to see that his men were ready, and then strapped himself in. The boarding ramp retracted then rose to form the forward hatch and sealed itself, and with a deep hum the shuttles repulsorlift engines lifted off from the deck, moved towards the ventral launch bay then dropped down from the _Challenger_ and accelerated away, while a squadron of V-Wings flew point and began clearing a path.

Everybody was being jostled violently in their crash-webbing as the pilots threw the shuttle into some truly violent manoeuvres to avoid as much enemy fire as possible, but the shuttle still jarred sharply when a flak burst exploded a little too close for comfort. Max, his ARC Troopers and marines absolutely hated this part and wished that their delivery service would get them to their destination all the quicker. After several more minutes of jostling and jarring the pilots made the sweetest announcement to their ears.

"We're on final approach towards the target, standby to breach!"

"Alright boys, get ready," said Commander Max as he braced for impact, along with every trooper onboard. With a loud clang the mouth of the attack shuttle slammed hard into the hull and powerful shock absorbers took the brunt of the impact. With a hard seal established specialised cutting lasers began to burn their way through the hull then shaped charges vaporized the cut away section of the thinly skinned outer hull then began cutting into the far thicker and more durable inner armoured hull.

Commander Max's ARC Troopers and marines unstrapped themselves from their seats and gripped their weapons, ready to enter the breach and end this battle. All of them wanted a piece of Captain Csalas, having seen the appalling conditions he had transported slaves of all races, including humans. Some of them were captured clone troopers from the war.

After thirty more seconds they finally burned through the armoured inner hull then a second set of shaped charges blew away the heavy slab of armour they had cut into the corridor they had managed to breach into, catching an entire platoon of B1s who had been passing by and waiting for the clones to come in, only to be caught by the instantly fragmented piece of armour and destroyed the majority of them. The golden marked command droid called over the radio.

"Uh, Captain Sir, our hull has been breached," it reported nervously.

_"Then get a damage control party there to plug it!"_ Captain Csalas ordered irritably.

"Yes sir, but there are imperial troops coming through the breach, we need reinforcements, ah," It was cut short by flurry of rapidly firing blaster bolts.

The clones came running out and took up positions to secure the initial breach as the rest came out, scanning the currently only temporarily safe patch of enemy territory. Commander Max came out last and took point with his ARC Troopers. He turned back towards the assault shuttle and saw that the last of their boarding party, a pair of R3 units, come aboard. One was white with red trim, the other was black with silver trim, and both had transparent domes. Four marines were charged with protecting them as the boarding party fought its way to the bridge.

"Everyone magnetize your boots! Assault shuttle, boarding party is aboard. You can disengage from the hull now and return to the ship," Commander Max ordered.

The shuttle's pilot acknowledged and then broke the seal as it pulled away, exposing the interior of the ship to the vacuum of space, which momentarily pulled at the boarding party, but before the compartment could depressurise atmospheric ray shields came online around the breach. A very surprising safety feature the clones hadn't seen that often. _Something I will have to recommend we get installed in our ships._

The clones moved forward at a rapid pace, gunning down every enemy droid they came across as they made a beeline for the ship's bridge.

* * *

_**Merchants Terror**_

**Command Bridge**

Csalas felt true fear in that moment when he heard the brief report from one of his B1 platoon commanders before it was cut off. He hadn't faced clones himself in close quarters in years, and he knew he was seriously out of shape for it.

"Tactical droid, call in the rapid reaction force. Stop those clones from getting up to the bridge," _and protect me._

"By your command!" it responded then sent out the orders via the ship's intercom system. From holding racks at specific points across the ship BX-series commando droids and droidekas began rolling to their designated chokepoints. Csalas took a quick look at the tactical display and was horrified to discover that clones had boarded his two Lucrehulks and were soon about to be taken. He quickly checked the internal cameras and watched the clones fight the hoards of droids he sent against them and watched as they quickly and efficiently brought them down. His eyes twitched in barely controlled rage. _They should not be able to take all of my droids down. Not without suffering casualties, and yet I see none. These are veterans that much I can tell._

He studied them closer and noticed a clone take two direct hits to the chest from a blaster wielded by a commando droid, but all they did was knock him down and then he managed to get back up and into cover again. Csalas quickly went back to the video frames that showed the impacts and noticed a slight blue glow that radiated from the impact points, but still the armour was burned, but the impact was severely weakened. _Some kind of ray shield, not a very powerful one, but strong enough to protect the wearer for at least a couple of shots. That's really expensive tech, not commonly used by regular stormtroopers. The Commodore cares about his troops. _

His assumption was backed up by the slackening of fire from the _Challenge_. They had only fired upon the shield generators and the external weapons blisters, and since their failed attempt to destroy the bridge, with him along with it, they hadn't hit anywhere close to the bridge.

_"He definitely cares about his troops!"_ "What's our weapons status?"

"We have lost most of our primary turbolaser batteries, flack guns and secondary laser cannons to enemy long range gun fire. I'd once again suggest retreat, but the ship's hyperdrive has been disabled," reported the tactical droid.

"Damn that bastard," he exclaimed with a hard slam of his arm on his command chair's armrest and explosively sighed. "Ready my escape ship. I'm leaving." With badly slumped shoulders he thumbed a few commands into his chair's controls then an opening in the deck opened up and he jumped into it as the tactical droid sent the captain's last command, just before blaster fire rang out in the corridor behind the bridge. Blast doors slammed shut to cover the entrance, preventing the clones from entering.

"Begin purging all databanks. The Empire must not find our master's safe houses," the tactical droid ordered.

* * *

**With the Clones**

The blast doors slammed shut several metres ahead of where Commander Max and his troops were fighting an enemy squad of ray-shielded droidekas and riot shield wielding commando droids.

"Commander, they've sealed the blast doors to the bridge," reported a marine as he ducked behind cover, narrowly missing a blaster bolt by a hair. "It's likely that they've sabotaged the controls as well. It'll take even longer for us to burn through that door."

Commander Max turned towards one of the R3s they had with them. "R3-D9, find a computer socket. Find out if Csalas is even in there!"

It chirped back in acknowledgement then trundled over to a nearby room, a security station and armoury, and plugged itself in as the clones fought on.

"Droid poppers," called out a clone over their helmet comm. and carefully rolled a trio of EMP grenades amongst the droidekas feet. All three rolled perfectly until the ship was rocked heavily by a weapons impact and scattered the grenades. Two of them still detonated within the shields of two of the three droidekas, but the last was knocked off course and went off amongst the commando droids which dropped down to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, leaving only one shielded droideka to guard the entrance.

"Pour it on boys, that thing's shields can't hold forever," the Commander called out as he reset his blaster to full auto and continuously fired hot plasma into the rapidly weakening shields, along with every other clone. Soon enough the amount of fire the droideka was taking was too much and its batteries gave out as they gave the last of their energy to the blaster cannons and it fired several quick bursts after the shield dropped, blasting one of the marines in the legs and chest before it was reduced to molten slag.

The team medic ran over to the fallen marine and checked him over. Commander Max looked back and the medic gave only a sad shake of the head.

Commander Max roughly sighed. "Leave the body. We can come back for it later."

An electronic chirping sounded from the nearby armoury and security station and translated droid speak appeared on Commander Max's helmet HUD. "Damn it, Csalas isn't on the bridge, he's headed for some escape craft of his several decks down," he said angrily. Max quickly went through the different options he had. "It's too late for us to go after him, let's just secure the bridge and hopefully stop him from launching from there. Wrecker, get those breaching charges set up!"

"You want a simple breach, bedlam or total destruction?" the boarding party's demolitions man asked excitedly.

"Hmmm, so many good choices," Max mused. "I'll take option one and two, we need the bridge intact!"

With a slightly disappointed shrug the demolitions man got to work on applying the specialised breaching charge. He first sprayed on chemical foam in a rough circle then added lines radiating into the centre and placed a square detonator where the lines intersected then stood a good couple of metres away to the side of the door with a remote in his hand. You could practically hear the grin upon his face as he happily said, "Fire in the hole!" and flipped the switch.

The foam near instantly heated up to an extreme temperature to become white hot and rapidly melted through the tough blast door, then exploded as the tiny packets of explosives inside the foam detonated, shattering the weakened door inward and scattered shrapnel all over the bridge, catching several droids inside by surprise.

Max took a quick look inside and audibly groaned in exasperation. "I asked for a simple breach and a little bedlam, not total destruction!"

"He, he, whoops, used a little too much," said the demo expert as a small number of B1 battle droids tried to make a stand.

"Blast those droids!" He commanded as he and his men stormed the bridge and quickly took out what remaining droids were on the bridge with rapid and precise blaster shots. The tactical droid, which had been hit by a large piece of shrapnel in the back, tried to get up to fight back, but was quickly disabled by a quick jab to the neck by one of Max's gauntlet mounted vibro-blades, rendering it immobile.

"D9, get over here and plug into the ship's main control system, shut down all of the onboard droids!"

The little astromech quickly trundled up to the closest bridge socket then plugged itself in and began to execute the commander's order. Seconds later, after D9 hacked its way through the ship's computer firewalls, the battalions worth of droids aboard shut down, except for a few who were on a separate network. Seconds later there was a short rumble of explosions, which sounded as if they came from the lower decks.

"What the hell was that?" Commander Max exclaimed.

* * *

**Csalas, minutes earlier**

The trip down the escape slide was always exhilarating for Csalas as he felt the rush of air in his ears, the rapid descent and the rush of the ground coming up to meet him. A thick column of air rapidly slowed his descent as he reached his destination, a hidden hangar meant to house only one ship. It was a long and narrow vessel, with an arrow shaped bow, a small cluster of four engines in the rear and number of small dual laser cannon turrets. He smiled as he saw the vehicle of his escape and headed for the ship's boarding ramp. Just before he entered he turned towards the bow of his former flagship, the general direction of the _Challenger_, and vowed, "Next time your ship will be the one to burn!" He quickly made his way to the cockpit and strapped himself into the captain's chair behind the two pilot seats where a pair of advanced pilot droids was sitting.

"Are we ready to launch?" he asked.

"We are ready. We are just waiting for your collection. They are being brought down now," the pilot droid to the left reported. An explosion just outside the cockpit made up Csalas's mind for him.

"Forget my collection. Launch now!" he said in near panic.

"Roger, roger, beginning launch sequence!"

Second later explosive bolts detonated behind a fat slab of armour on the lower forward section of the _Merchants Terror_, dropping the deck out from under the escape ship and flung it out into space. Seconds later the ship ignited its engines and accelerated away from the battle as hard as it could, even as a squadron of passing Y-Wings attempted to intercept it. Their powerful engines burned brightly as they struggled to keep up with the rapidly accelerating vessel, they even managed to fire of a few shots from their nose mounted laser cannons, but the shields held.

"Damn it, gunners swat those annoying flies," Csalas angrily ordered.

The rearmost dual laser cannons opened fire with a fusillade of red laser cannon fire, bracketing a number of Y-Wings and destroyed one and damaged another two. The Y-Wings retaliated with a volley of proton torpedoes.

"Incoming torpedoes, engaging countermeasures," one of the pilot droids reported. Chaff and flares were ejected into space in a starburst pattern, which spoofed a number of torpedoes and created a thick cloud of debris behind the ship which stopped and detonated the rest of them. The ship shook hard as the energy waves cascaded over Csalas's escape ship.

"Engage the cloaking device, quickly!" the captain ordered and with a short electrical discharge and a watery ripple the ship quickly disappeared from sight and scopes and Csalas could finally breathe a sigh of relief. "Safe at last. Pilots, plot a hyperspace jump to the Coriander system." _That's where my forces are meant to rendezvous if something disastrous happened, which I believe today qualifies._

With that he drifted off to sleep as the ship made the jump to light speed.

* * *

_**INS Challenger **_

**Command Bridge**

On the command bridge things were settling down as the last of the enemy guns and fighters fell silent at last, and the Commodore and the rest of the crew could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Now came the aftermath.

"Commander Hess, start putting together a full damage report for the entire battle group. Let's find out how badly we've been hurt today," he ordered tiredly as he stepped away from the tactical holo-tank. "I'll be heading down to the medical bay. I need to have a little talk with Doctor Magellan."

"Aye sir, I'll bring the report to you when it's finished," Commander Hess said reassuringly. "Sir, all things considered it could have been worse."

"Doesn't really help me sleep at night!" said the Commodore so quietly as he got into the turbolift, Commander Hess had to struggle to hear what he just said, and was just happy that none of the crew had been able to hear him. Morale was low enough as it was.

As he rode down in the turbolift he took the opportunity of privacy the turbolift car gave him to drop the stony mask he was forced to don in front of his crew and for a few moments let the emotions come cleanly upon his face, but he never cried, nothing dramatic, just letting the emotions come to the surface and deal with them in private, attempting to resolve his emotions in the few minutes he had, but the journey down was over quickly and he quickly donned the stony mask once again and headed straight for the ship's sickbay.

The sickbay was a hive of barely controlled chaos as doctors and nurses were working hard to save all of the wounded they have, and in the middle of this chaotic circus act was its master conductor, overseeing the treatment of all of his patients and helping wherever he was needed.

"Alright, third degree burns across twenty percent of his body and second degree burns across another forty percent put this patient into the bacta tanks in ward 3. Next!" said the good Doctor Magellan as the patient was removed and he moved over to the next.

The Commodore smiled at the doctor's usual gruff bedside manner then moved in closer. "Hello doctor, what's the butcher's bill?" he asked.

The Doctor stopped for a moment, then continued towards his next patient, a crewman with a few nasty blaster wounds in his left shoulder, chest and left leg and was being held down by a couple of pretty nurses since he was thrashing around on the bed. "One second Commodore," said the Doctor as he took out a syringe with a clear liquid in it and stuck it quickly into the clearest vein and injected the cocktail of sedatives into the patient and soon enough he was calmed down. "Clean out those wounds quickly before they get infected and put some bacta patches on them," he ordered shortly and the nurses began carrying out his orders.

"It's a real mess down here Jack. So far I have seventy five dead in my morgue and more than three hundred wounded in my beds so far. Most of the dead are the result of those commando droids that boarded us, decapitations, blaster wounds, vibro-sword cuts, some of these wounds I thought I wouldn't be treating again anytime soon," said the doctor as he led the Commodore to his office. It was small with only a medical cabinet and desk with a single comfy office chair and two slightly less comfy chairs situated in front of the desk.

"Well this pirate is one tricky bastard. Six months of hunting him, nothing but hit and run attacks which we interrupt and never catch any of his ships, and then he comes after us with a large and powerful fleet. We seriously pissed him off and promptly kicked his ass, and just when we had him cornered and even boarded his ship he escapes my clutches," said the Commodore in exasperation.

"Well, it seems that both sides didn't get what they wanted. You may have beaten his fleet, but he still escaped. How many times has this battle group saved a convoy?" the doctor asked curiously.

"The past six months we've stopped roughly a hundred attacks and in the last two engagements we destroyed his two interdictor modified cruisers, then goes silent for a couple of weeks, then this massive simultaneous attack on ten different convoys. I must have seriously pissed him off, because he sent half of his whole damned fleet after us."

"You should be flattered. That means he respects you," said the doctor as he brought up a flask of Corellian Brandy. "Twenty years old this thing is, I hope you appreciate what I'm treating you with," he said as he poured a good finger's width of brandy into a pair of tumblers.

"Doc, I'm still on duty!" said Jack with little conviction.

"Yeah, and I'm your doctor and I say you need this!" the older man said as he pushed the tumbler towards him.

With reluctance Jack took the tumbler gingerly in his hand and sipped at the brandy, the scent was heady and wooden, and the drink warmed his mouth, throat and belly as it travelled and settled, relaxing him, and he hated it. The drink numbed his senses and slowed his reaction times, though he would admit small doses now and then were sometimes required.

"You know Jack, I've been a medic and a doctor in the service of the navy for almost thirty years, and I've known all types of men, and they all dealt with grief and stress in their own way. Yes, men have been lost, but know that your cause has been just and their sacrifice necessary."

"Hmph, I know, but it still doesn't really dull the pain," countered Jack.

The good doctor smiled sadly. "No, but it does make it slightly bearable, and enables you to live with it."

"But what if the man you have sworn to serve..."

"No, you do not serve Him," said Doctor Magellan in distaste. "Your oath of service is to the people of our native Corellia, her colonies and her allies. We just rent our services to Emperor Palpatine's Imperial Navy. We have no loyalty to him. You and I both know his reign is built upon terror and death, and such an empire cannot stand for ever. Sooner or later there is going to be another war, and that war won't be as cut and dry as the Clone Wars."

Jack emptied his tumbler in one short gulp then stood up. "Well, thank you doctor for the talk, but I need to return to duty."

"And so do I, my doctors and pretty nurses would most likely fall apart without me if I do not supervise them," said Doctor Magellan well naturedly.

Jack could only crack a small smile at the good doctor's comment then headed back up to the command bridge.

* * *

_**Merchants Terror**_

**Boarding Party**

The hallways of the _Merchants Terror_ were eerily quiet, only the sound came from the near silent footfalls of the ARC Troopers and marines who prowled it's previously droid infested hallways. While Commander Max and the tech specialists remained behind on the bridge to coordinate the search of the ship, it fell to the squads of ARC Troopers and marines to conduct the visual inspection until the two R3 astromechs reprogram the onboard droids to be loyal to their side and make sure they stayed that way.

They had made a systematic sweep of the upper decks and have been working their way down to the lower decks. They were only a few dozen metres away from the previously hidden hangar bay that used to house Captain Csalas's escape ship when one of the squads searching the ship heard hushed voices ahead of them. The marines picked up speed and rapidly closed in on the voices and as the turned around the bend they got the surprise of their lives. There were seven exotic female aliens clothed in revealing garments, mostly near see-through silk cloth and minimal amounts of leather covering their privates.

One was a togruta female, whom only looked to have just entered adulthood. Her body was of a near perfect specimen, a good balance between an athletic build with strong muscle tone and feminine curves and wore a gold and blue leather minimalist two piece bikini with soft dark blue sheer silk half skirt that wrapped around from her sides to her rear and extended down to behind her knees. The second was a mirialan with pale green skin and small diamond shaped tattoos that went from left cheek to right cheek across her nose and wore a similar outfit as the togruta, only a very dark green and gold and the skirt was solid green leather. The other five were twi'leks. Each had a different skin colour which were red, purple, pink, orange and blue and all of them had intricate and unique tattoos that crisscrossed their lekku and up and down their arms, legs and sides of their bodies in contrasting colours to their skin tones. The one thing the slaves each had in common was that they each had a slave collar on, but only the togruta and mirialan had considerable electrical burns, indicative of very difficult to break slaves.

As soon as the marines saw the mirialan's facial tattoos the marines nearly shot her on sight, recognising her as the Jedi that was responsible for the bombing of the Jedi Temple only a year before Order 66, and for once these particular marines didn't feel any hesitance to carry out that particular order. The only thing that stayed their hand was the togruta who was standing between them and their target.

"Move aside ma'am, we've no quarrel with you, but this Jedi killed many of our brothers at the Jedi Temple, she deserves to be put to death!" the squad leader, Sergeant Quad9, or CT9999, said determined.

"And I will not allow you to harm my friend. She was truly not in her right mind when she committed those crimes and has paid for those crimes not just with prison time, but also by being sold into slavery. In prison she was kept away from the populace, but what Csalas did to us is beyond anything any true sentient being would want to inflict upon another. See his handiwork for what it is," said the togruta hotly as she turned slightly, still keeping her own body between the clones and the mirialan, and tugged down on the mirialan's slave collar and wrist braces, revealing far worse electrical burns around the neck and wrists, plus injection sites along her right inner arm where Csalas had pumped chemicals into her to make her more compliant, which was still in her system evident by the way she swayed slightly and not quite one hundred percent steady on her feet.

The marine thought it over and decided to bump this up straight to the top. He like all of the clones in the _Challenger _battle group didn't believe that Order 66 was right, but this Jedi he knew had committed cold blooded murder that day and had obviously fallen to the dark side, but seeing her in such a state he couldn't help but pity her.

"Alright, I'll contact my commanding officer and let him deal with this. You're damned lucky that it is us that found you, otherwise your friend and yourself would be pumped full of plasma without hesitation," the sergeant said as he keyed his wrist-com. "Commander Max this is Sergeant Quad9, we seem to have found Csalas's little harem, one of them appears to be the murderer Barris Offee, and a number of the slaves requires medical attention, not to mention some decent clothes. Requesting instructions!"

_"Osik, I was hoping not to have to deal with such things. I'll inform the Commodore, he can sort this out, in the meantime bring them over to the _Challenger_ for medical attention,"_ Commander Max ordered in irritation.

The marines relaxed their stance and the sergeant gestured with his blaster. "Come on, we'll take you down to the hangar, there's a shuttle coming over with more troops, we'll catch a ride over to the _Challenger_ on that, then we'll let the Commodore decide what to do with you!"

The group began moving towards the hangar deck only a few decks above. While they were being moved Barris turned towards her old friend. "Ahsoka are you sure that this was a good idea?" she asked fearfully.

Ahsoka took a careful look at the squad of marines escorting them and reached out with her senses. She could feel their hostility towards Barris, but they didn't harbour any for her or any of the slaves, only indifference, or in one or two cases a little bit of attraction. "We don't have much choice, and if it hasn't escaped your notice we're unarmed, heavily drugged and barely able to walk, much less put up a fight against a full squad of eight clone marines," she pointedly reminded her companion.

Both were using the Force to flush the chemicals from their systems, but since they were not in an active healing trance it wasn't working as fast. Barris could only respond with near silent sobs as she leaned heavily upon Ahsoka for support, but even with her dulled senses she could still sense Ahsoka's feelings of betrayal and distrust of her, which only strengthened her own feelings of despair.

* * *

_**INS Challenger**_

**Sickbay**

Kayla walked into the still hectic sickbay, having been summoned by Commodore Hawks and the CMO to meet some of their latest guests. Kayla was curious since she had never been summoned to meet anyone since coming aboard, except to the Commodore's quarters to serve him, which day by day she had come to not only be a part of her cover, but also something she enjoyed more and more each day.

She asked one of the young nurses where the doctor and Commodore were and was directed towards a private ward, thanked the nurse and moved on towards her destination. She quickly saw why she had been summoned. On two separate beds were the near naked forms of Ahsoka Tano and Barris Offee, while on another set of beds along the far side of the ward were five twi'leks of various skin tones, but her attention was focused upon her two former Jedi comrades. Both looked worse for wear and Doctor Magellan had put a set of IV lines into the Jedi's veins, drawing and infusing blood into both.

The doctor was at a nearby diagnostic console and was shaking his head in disbelief at some results that were running across his screen. "Unbelievable. I heard that Csalas was twisted, but this is on a whole new level," said the good doctor,

"What did he drug them with?" Jack asked.

"A mixture of Glitterstim and Carsunum Spice along with a few other chemicals that should never be combined with these two narcotics. Basically he's got them addicted to a drug that's supposed to make them receptive to suggestion and increase arousal. He's got them all hooked on it, and their recovery is not going to be pleasant, to say the least. I anticipate the withdrawal symptoms are going to be particularly acute," the doctor answered as he moved to Barris's bedside. "This one it seems is going to be the worst one off. She's been on it the longest," Doctor Magellan explained as he looked back to Jack.

Jack quickly noticed Kayla's presence. "Kayla, I assume you recognise these two?" he asked, with a pointed glare at Barris.

"Yes, they are Ahsoka Tano and Barris Offee. Miss Offee was sentenced to life imprisonment for her actions, pending her ability to reform and turn back towards the light. Ahsoka left the Order at the same time as Miss Offee was imprisoned. From what I heard she left because the Council didn't trust her and she felt that her place was no longer amongst us. I don't know exactly what happened after that, it was not long before I took command of the Felucian campaign so I didn't see either of them after that."

"Well, now we know where they ended up. I want you to stay close and talk to them. A familiar face might get them to open up more than someone like me or Doctor Magellan," said Jack, and Kayla acquiesced with a nod of her head. Kayla could feel that, while he harboured no hostility to Ahsoka or any of the slaves, when it came to Barris she could feel an intense distrust, an emotion she also felt considering her actions at the temple, something she would bring up later, in private.

"Doctor when will they regain consciousness?" she asked.

"It may be a few more hours until they wake up, but since both are in a healing trance at the moment, which is accelerating the healing process exponentially, they could wake up at any time."

"Very well." Kayla took a seat between both of Ahsoka's and Barris's beds and laid her hands on their respective shoulders. "I shall add my power to theirs, and accelerate their healing." She closed her eyes and relaxed her body, crossed her legs and focused her energies on healing her two former comrades, allowing the Force to guide her in her desire to help heal them. All sights, sounds and sensations fell away from her mind as she focused herself in meditation. She wasn't the most skilled in Force Healing, but she would do what she could.

"I'll be on the command bridge, make sure those girls make a full recovery. I've got a lot of questions for them," said Jack as he turned away and marched out of sickbay. Doctor Magellan shook his head in exasperation as the man he considered a nephew left. _That young man never did cope with dealing with people whom had hurt his friends._

* * *

**Csalas Fleet Emergency Rendezvous**

Csalas's fitful sleep was interrupted as the stealth ship shook as it decelerated from light speed. Blearily he opened his eyes and saw a sight that brought a small smile to his lips. Eighteen ships were waiting for him, most of them looked to be in relatively good condition, with just a few more battle scars on most of them, except for a pair of Munificent class star frigates that looked like they had been mauled, with massive tears in their hulls and one of them had lost its command bridge.

He soon spotted the lead ship of this small pirate fleet, the Lucrehulk-class droid control ship _Poison Nightmare_, flanked by the battleships _Devils Coral_ and _The Shameful Gale_. "Open a channel to the lead ship and tell them to prepare for my arrival." He was not looking forward to meeting his peers.

The Stealth corvette made its way smoothly towards the fleet's flagship, noticing that the ship's secondary guns were tracking him, which made the former Separatist commander nervous, but like any smart commander he had a plan for every contingency, some of them planned out even before the end of the war. The corvette flew deep into the _Poison Nightmare's_ port arm and landed in a marked out landing pad where a squad of B1s were waiting.

He quickly exited the Stealth Corvette and met the squad of B1 battle droids. The lead droid in gold markings told him that they were his escort and that the fleet's ship commanders were waiting for him in one of the main conference rooms. Csalas's right hand went to a small transmitter in his pocket and activated it and then gestured for the droids to lead the way. They led him down a corridor and led him into one of the ship's mass transit trams, which then accelerated rapidly towards the rear of the ship then into the central sphere. Minutes later he was led into a circular conference room with several high backed chairs surrounding a circular conference table. There were 42 placements in all, but now only eighteen were filled and the droids followed Csalas inside, their blasters held in a relaxed muzzle down stance, but ready to raise them faster than any organic could.

Csalas noted the morose looks upon the faces of the surviving captains and took his place in the highest backed chair, while the battle droids took up positions around the room, curiously in positions that granted them clear lines of fire towards him.

"Well gentlemen, it seems that I am not the only one who suffered a defeat!" Csalas commented darkly.

"But you obviously suffered the most casualties, while I managed to escape with only the loss of the one of my Munificent class star frigates and two badly damaged ones, while the rest only incurred minor damage," the neimoidian captain of the _Poison Nightmare stated_. "Not only did you fail to destroy your target, you allowed that imperial get under your skin which led to the destruction of the entire fleet." The slimy neimoidian stood up from his seat and began to walk around the table. "I believe it is time we had some proper leadership for a change. Droids, kill him!"

The droids raised their weapons, but not at Csalas. "Wait, what are you doing, no..." With fluid and precise movements of machines they aimed their weapons at the neimoidian captain and cut loose with a barrage of red blaster fire, his death scream cut off abruptly as he was blasted out of his chair and lay dead at the floor. The various alien pirate captains stood in shock at what had just happened, not believing what they had just witnessed.

"Let that be a lesson to all who would attempt to defy me!" said Csalas imperiously. "I have taken control of all of your battle droids. The only thing I require from you is your loyalty and your ability to command, but be warned. Any of you attempt to use your droids as Mar Tuuk just did, and you'll find that you've signed your own death certificates."

Every pirate captain in the room had a look of near terror upon their faces, except for one. A tall avian talortai with grey eyes and a silver-grey beak and a pair of large blades strapped to his back calmly stood, and then quite unexpectedly he chuckled. "I was wondering when you were going to kill that slimy neimoidian."

"You know me, Urai Fen. I milk everything I can from my resources, and he outlived his usefulness. If there is nothing else, let's start by going through what went wrong and what went right."

Everyone took their seats again, except for Urai Fen, who took up his rightful seat to Csalas's right hand side.

"As you are no doubt aware I lost almost all of the ships that went with me to engage Commodore Hawks' battle group. It is true that this is a serious setback, but not a lethal one. Even though we have suffered losses we still inflicted considerable damage to the enemy. I also commend you all for getting away with so few casualties as you did. Captain Fen, what sort of damage did your forces exact against the _Concordia_ battle group?" Csalas asked of the avian as his fleshy part of his beak turned up slightly in a smile.

"We also were successful in inflicting damage upon the enemy, though not as much as you were able to. We destroyed most of their escorts, but the three main line ships, the Victory class destroyers _Gladius_ and _Gorgon_, and the Venator class attack cruiser _Concordia_ are still operational, if a bit singed around the edges. I suggest we stick to raiding the Outer Rim Territories, a lot less of a chance of being tracked and some of the younger frontier colonies are ripe for the taking," the old blood thirsty avian said cruelly.

Csalas took a few minutes to ponder his right hand avian's proposal. He so desperately wanted to make Commodore Hawks pay for what he did to him, but it was time that he got practical. "Very well. We'll concentrate on the Outer Rim and stay away from the Mid-Rim for a while, just until we can rebuild our forces and begin our raids on imperial shipping again. I will be like taking candy from a baby, and we will make so much profit," he said smiling, and the other captains smiled too, no wanting to garner the sometimes volatile former Separatist.

_"Captain Csalas, there is a transmission coming through for you, it's Dosa the Hutt!"_ reported the bridge communications tech.

"Great, well he was going to find out sooner or later. Put him through to down here," said the captain. The lights in the conference room dimmed significantly, and then a blue-hued hologram of a fat hutt with a fez on top of his head with a long pipe sticking out of his mouth with a silver plated protocol droid standing next to him came to life in the centre of the circular conference table.

"Mighty Dosa, what can the Brotherhood of Pirates do for you?" Csalas asked with a mock bow of his head.

Dosa looked around and began speaking in the ancient huttese language, which these days could only be translated by protocol droids. "_The mighty Dosa asks why there are now so few of the brotherhood?"_

"A setback with our recent campaign resulted in a loss of several of my ships, including my flagship. However we are still fully operational..."

"_The mighty Dosa says excuses are not wanted. You would do best to remember the deal you made with us. You owe us for the fuel and supplies we gave you. We want everything you took, or we will cut you lose and see how long it takes for Commodore Hawks to hunt you down,"_ the protocol droid translated for the angry Dosa.

"We agreed to give you a thirty five percent cut of what we took from the convoys, the rest we would sell through our own middleman in exchange for repair facilities and fuel," said Csalas angrily.

_"With your inability to take even a single convoy in this latest push, plus the preceding failed raids months before we require more to offset the losses the Hutt Cartels have suffered in supporting you. You will pay us or we will make sure that the Empire knows where to find you."_

"Wait, can't we negotiate?" Csalas asked, just before the transmission was cut and Dosa's cruel laughter was heard as he shimmered out of view. Csalas's fists balled up tightly in anger, and a number of the captains sitting at the table wondered if one of their heads was on the proverbial chopping block.

* * *

AN: Phew, another one down. Please can I have a few more reviews from my readers, preferably constructive so I can improve the story.


	10. Recovery

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 10: Recovery**

_**INS Challenger**_

**Sickbay**

It had been hours since Aayla began helping her two former comrades, using her own energies to bolster both Ahsoka's and Barris's own energy levels and help them through their physical recovery, but both were to her eyes unbalanced. They had been suffering for a long time and were perilously close to losing themselves to the darkness inside them that had been festering ever since they had been captured and forced into slavery.

For Barris it was a much more dire situation for her. She had known suffering far longer than Ahsoka, ever since she was imprisoned roughly two years ago. Aayla caught a number of brief flashes of her life that flitted across the connection, and she was nearly sickened. No sentient being should have to endure such a horrible fate as had befallen this young woman. Ahsoka was a little luckier, having been able to hide herself for a while, but her luck eventually ran out and she too was now close to giving in to the darkness and surrender herself to her own hate and anguish.

Eventually Aayla had to stop and rest herself. Channelling the Force into someone was taxing for most Jedi, but Aayla was doing it for two. She gently stopped the flow of Force energy and tiredly reclined back into the chair she had appropriated for a short nap.

Suddenly a loud scream sounded from the bed on her left side. Barris had woken up and she was terrified. Her scream was as loud and shrill as a banshee and woke up Ahsoka and interrupted Aayla's catnap. Aayla quickly moved to her side and looked deep into her eyes.

"It's alright Barris, you're safe now," she said soothingly, quickly put her hands on her shoulders and made Barris focus on her, yet she still screamed in terror. Ahsoka launched herself off her bed, nearly tearing out her medical IV, and landed right next to Aayla and pushed her out of Barris's line of sight.

"We're safe Barris, remember? We were brought here for medical attention. No one here is going to hurt you!" said Ahsoka in the strongest voice she could muster, cradling Barris's face in her hands and looked directly into her eyes. Immediately Barris calmed down, though she still shivered in fright.

"The master is gone?" Barris asked.

"If you mean Csalas, he fled from battle yesterday and hasn't been seen since. You are free now, Barris. Csalas is no longer you're master!" said Aayla reassuringly and Barris visibly relaxed, but only slightly. Aayla caught the attention of one of the nurses and seconds later Doctor Magellan himself came walking in.

"I was beginning to worry you wouldn't wake up for a moment there," said the good doctor as he began to check the readout on the electronic chart that hung at the foot of Barris's sickbay bed. "You'll be happy to know that your vitals have stabilized, but there are still small amounts of that chemical cocktail that Csalas gave you in your system. We also took the liberty of removing your collars, wrist and ankle braces, so you don't have to worry about random electric shocks anymore."

Immediately the two former slaves inspected their still healing necks and wrists and saw and felt that their shackles were truly gone, replaced by bacta-wraps. "Thank you doctor for removing our bindings," said Ahsoka gratefully.

"All part of the service. Now, let me take a look at those burns," said the doctor as he slowly approached, but Barris curled up into a tight ball and shrunk away from him with still terrified eyes. "Relax young lady. I'm a doctor, and I'm here to help." She looked to Ahsoka who smiled reassuringly at her and she uncurled from her ball and let the doctor take a closer look at her wounds. He smiled at the progress she showed. "Well young lady, looks like you're healing right on schedule. I give it maybe a couple of weeks before a complete recovery and by that time the chemicals should be completely out of your system. Now Ahsoka, let's take a look at you, get back to your bed please. Nurse, would you check her IV?" he requested as Ahsoka made her way back to her bed with a slightly sheepish look on her face as she became painfully aware of the IV she nearly pulled earlier, which the nurse gently reinserted fully into her vein again.

The doctor proceeded to inspect her own burns and injection sites and hummed with satisfaction. "You too are healing well, even faster than your friend. It always amazes me how you trained Force sensitive's heal so rapidly."

"What can I say, we heal quickly." The doctor smiled at his togruta patient's little quip and focused more on her electronic chart. His brow furrowed slightly.

"Well, according to this your bodies are rapidly breaking down those chemicals, but I suggest you both stay for medical supervision. The two spices that Csalas used have been known to cause severe withdrawal and that could prove to be, at best, most uncomfortable to nearly unbearable, almost certainly lethal." His two patients faces showed their worry, with Ahsoka showing a very distinct dislike, while Barris began shivering in fear. "It should only take a few days for it to subside, and we can treat the withdrawal symptoms, but the two of you will be bedridden for at least a week."

Aayla put her hands on both of their shoulders. "I'll be with you the entire time," she said reassuringly. There was an uncomfortable silence as the two medical professionals took care of the two of them. "Maybe you could tell me what happened to you two since Order 66?" Both Jedi looked very reluctant to talk about what happened to them, but Aayla persisted. "I know that discussing such things are painful, but trust me, you'll feel better if you do."

Both Ahsoka and Barris looked to each other and in silent agreement Ahsoka began talking.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

_**INS Challenger**_

**Command Bridge, CIC**

The CIC was buzzing with activity, and Commander Hess was right in the middle of it. She displayed neither satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the progress of work the crew of the CIC was doing, but her steely gaze still unnerved the people working under her, and she loved that feeling of knowing she was the most feared and respected officer under Commodore Jack Hawks' command, and she only had to answer to him, which gave her a really warm and fuzzy feeling inside her.

She was currently supervising the salvage operations that were currently ongoing. Six former Separatist warships were now effectively in their hands and completely under their control along with their onboard crew of droids which were in the process of being reprogrammed to serve the battle group, their organic captains having either been persuaded to help with the recovery effort or had been killed in the battle.

One Lucrehulk-class droid control ship and one Lucrehulk-class battleship were captured relatively intact thanks to ARC-trooper led boarding parties that captured the ships bridges. Three Recusant-class destroyers were also captured with minimal resistance since their engineering sections had been cleanly cut away from them, and Csalas's flagship had also been captured, though sadly they failed to capture the bastard himself, which nearly broke here iron clad grip upon her self-control.

To her surprise the Commodore came up to the CIC. "Sir, what brings you here, I thought you were taking a break?"

"A two hour catnap in my quarters is more than enough for me. What's the status of the salvage operation?" he asked.

"Well the salvage and repair droids are making good progress on the three Recusant-class destroyers. They've reattached the engineering sections and got main power back online. Latest reports had them at being ready for a hyperspace jump back to Corellia within the hour. However _Merchants Terror_ is almost a complete write-off. Its hyperdrive was destroyed in the battle and the hull is too badly damaged to survive a trip through hyperspace. It's a wonder its hull is still able to maintain air-tight integrity."

The Commodore sighed slightly in resignation. "Too bad, I wanted it for a trophy. Alright, strip it down to its barebones, take anything and everything of value, and tell the salvage teams to keep a weather eye out for the ship's ECM systems. I just finished reading the report from the CIWS tactical officer. The pirates ability to throw up a literal electronic wall for our CIWS targeting systems is a worrying development."

The Commander nodded in agreement. "I'll make sure that they keep a weather eye open," she said as she began addressing the entire CIC. "And if they don't find it I'll use them for training rounds for the ship's mass accelerator cannons!"

Just as Commander Hess said her unofficial order Commander Ganto came to the CIC carrying a pad.

"Ah Rikard, how fares your fair lady?" the Commodore asked him which the older Chief Engineer responded to with a half smile. "Well she weathered the battle pretty well. Portside shield generators were slightly overtaxed and had to switch over to secondary generators, which left us open for a couple of seconds during our brief broadside exchange with the _Tempo Diablo_ and we lost a few good square metres of outer armour plating, but none of it managed to get through to the battle-plating, so no damage there. We lost a couple of secondary guns and three CIWS mounts, all of which can be replaced at our next port of call."

"Well you're in luck Old Man," said Commander Hess teasingly. "It's the end of our six month tour so we'll be heading back to Corellia for our next refit, and remember, six months on, two months off in peace time," she said grinning her very shark-like grin which unnerved everyone in the CIC.

"Commander, why are you grinning like a shark?" the Commodore asked.

"Oh, just thinking what I'm going to do with my share of the prize money," she said gleefully, which also spawned an equally greedy grin on the older chief engineer's face, but a confused look came over the Commodore's face.

"I know we'll probably make a fair amount of credits with the navy selling off the ships we've captured, but it's nothing more than a small bonus for us," said Jack as he quickly did some mental calculations of what the Imperial Navy would probably get for selling the five relatively intact ships they had captured and that the crews that captured them get ten percent of the proceeds to be divided among the crew, with one eighth to himself, the commanding officer of the battle group, two eighths to be divided amongst the senior officers, the rest would be divided up equally amongst the rest of the crew.

"While that would be a nice bonus I take it you haven't seen what's in the cargo holds of those two Lucrehulks?" the Commander asked with an uncharacteristically mischievous voice.

"Aside from more battle droids that might be worth a little if we sell them to the Corporate Sector or just melt them down for their raw materials..." the Commodore hypothesized.

"I went through the ships manifests and found something very interesting, which I just had Commander Ganto confirm, which I assume you're here to do," she said hopefully.

Chief Engineer Ganto sported the same type of grin that Commander Hess sported."Oh we've confirmed it alright, there are literally several hundred tons of valuables aboard those two converted cargo-ships. For instance one of their cargo bays has a huge number of just platinum ingots from floor to ceiling."

Everybody's ears perked up at that statement and everyone was mentally adding credit signs in the three senior officers eyes as they thought about what they were all going to get for all that loot. The ships themselves became the property of the navy, but the contents of the prizes became the property of the crews who captured them to be sold or kept as trophies if they wanted to.

"Well then, looks like we'll all be getting some serious bonuses for this little venture," said Jack, who then had a quick thought. "Make sure the shares for the servicemen who died gets to their families!" That quickly snapped everybody out of their reverie, remembering the price in blood they had just paid.

"How are those slaves one of the marine fire-teams rescued?" Commander Hess asked to divert the thoughts of everyone in the CIC.

"The doc says they'll be in for a rough couple of weeks as they go through withdrawal. The mental scars however are going to take a long time to heal, probably the longest," said Jack as he remembered the two former Jedi in sickbay and a hot fury welled up inside him as he remembered what one of them did to a very close friend of his who had business at the Jedi Temple that fateful day.

"We should be ready to leave in a couple of hours. Follow-up teams of salvagers will probably pick up what we missed and they'll be here within the hour, so no need to needlessly exhaust ourselves," said Commander Hess, before she realized her small slip-up.

"That's right Commander, we shouldn't have to over-exert ourselves for such a simple operation," the Commodore said smiling. "I'll take the conn here, you go to your quarters and rest, you've been up here almost twelve hours straight and you need the break more than I do."

"But sir..." she protested.

"Don't make me make it an order, Commander, or I'll have the doc take you down to sickbay and begin poking you with the biggest set of needles he has."

She paled at the thought of being at the doc's tender mercies for anything less than a serious injury.

"Ok, ok, I'll go to my quarters and rest, you're a very evil man," she said quietly as she walked closely by her Commodore.

Jack could only grin back at her. "Sometimes it's good to be the Commodore! Rikard I suggest you get back to your engine room, I'm sure somebody has fowled something up in your absence," he said pointedly.

"Sir, aren't you going to order me to get some rest?" he asked innocently.

"No, because unlike my lovely xo you're not a workaholic and know how to relax. Besides you love your job."

"Yes sir," said the chief engineer as he stepped off the CIC and into the closest turbolift, while Jack took a pad from the plot table and began reading it as work in the CIC picked up.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Corellian System**

**The next day**

The space in the Corellian system was as hectic as ever with various ships of all shapes and sizes both civilian and military coming and going at all hours of the day. Just outside the systems inner asteroid field seventeen warships, which included the five captured warships, came out of hyperspace, all damaged to some degree and then headed into the asteroid field where the Hawks Shipyards was safely nestled. From the asteroid field came a squadron of Eta-2 Interceptors which the battle group followed through the safe passage.

The asteroid field contained not only huge rocks and the shipyards, it also had a number of hidden mine fields, mostly disguised as smaller clouds of asteroids or even planted on small asteroids. Most were ion mines armed with proximity fuses, designed to disable vessels from small starfighters to big multi-kilometre long warships, while others were simple plasma mines that shot out directed jets of white hot plasma in the general direction of the ship that had set it off. There were also a number of defence satellites equipped with similar stealth systems as the stealth corvettes _Ghost_ and _Shadow_ and normally took on the appearance of asteroids, armed with heavy plasma cannons, CIWS laser cannons and box launchers for concussion missiles, and had a single shield generator.

This is what the commodore remembered from his latest encrypted communiqué from his father and had filtered the information down the chain of command so everyone knew not to stray from the Interceptors path, otherwise the foolish captain would see his ship destroyed before he or she has a chance to defend themselves. He watched from his command chair as he observed his crew and enjoyed the view of returning home again. Soon enough he saw the Hawks Shipyards fill up the view ports and watched as their guides peeled off, having guided them safely to their final destination.

A number of small tractor beam tugs came out from the Shipyards outer docking slips and guided in the battle group's ships and its latest acquisitions into their own slips, except for the pair of Lucrehulks who are too big for the biggest docking slips. In minutes the ships of the _Challenger_ battle group were safely docked and the slipways closed up around the ships.

"Secure all stations and link up to the slipway, prepare to switchover to external power and begin main reactor shut down procedures," commanded Commander Hess as soon as the slipway closed up and sealed them in. For a second the lights dimmed slightly then came back to full strength as power switched over.

"Primary and secondary reactors are powering down and we are now on external power. Atmosphere is now being pumped into the slipway and worker droids are getting to work," reported one of the dozen bridge technicians.

"A textbook docking and linkup Commander Hess, well done to both you and our skilled helmsmen," said the Commodore encouragingly, but then continued on a more serious note. "Now we need to go and have a little chat with my father and Mister Blissex. I have a couple of bones to pick with them."

Commander Hess was less than enthusiastic. "I don't think you need me for this, why can't the Old Man go with you?"

"He's still making preparations for the refit, I don't want to interrupt him, besides you've already done the preliminary analysis on the enemy ECM and understand the problem better than any of us," said the commodore smiling as he watched her get more uncomfortable. "Besides dad probably misses you," he said as he rose up from his command chair and Commander Hess reluctantly followed him to the turbolift.

"Lieutenant Commander Patrice, I leave the Command Bridge in your hands. Make sure that the yard dogs do their jobs," said Commander Hess just before leaving the bridge with the Commodore.

"Aye sir," he replied with a stiff salute, and as soon as the two senior officers were off the bridge he breathed a little easier, thankful that the ship's resident krayt dragon had left.

In the turbolift Commander Hess silently fumed, which the Commodore couldn't help but notice. "Mirialia I know that you don't like meeting with my father, but I can assure you that while he may have a wandering eye, especially when there is a beautiful woman in the room, his hands never wander unless invited."

"Well he'd better keep his hands to himself, because unlike last time when he only got a slap in the face if he comes even close to fondling my butt again I'll snap the hand that did it off at the wrist," she said in all seriousness, and all Jack could do was sigh in resignation.

"Then I'd better make sure he keeps his hands to himself," said Jack in exasperation. "Just don't overreact if he tries, as a favour to me please, I'd prefer that he remain relatively intact."

"No promises sir," she said, just before the turbolift doors opened.

They both got out of the turbolift and headed towards the airlock. They quickly exited the ship through a transparent docking tube to the shipyard proper and Jack and Mirialia saw with their own eyes some of the damage the _Challenger_ had suffered in the last engagement, quickly noticing a lot of carbon scoring from turbolaser blasts and a few blast craters from missile, torpedo and proton shell strikes. The damage to his beloved ship, his third command, tugged at his heart strings, but knew that after this next refit his ship would be stronger than ever. Mirialia allowed him a moment then pulled on his left arm to remind him that they needed to move on.

On the other end of the docking tube a trio of familiar faces as well as a new face was waiting for them. Two of them were civilians, the other two were military officers.

"Dad, mister Blissex," Jack greeted warmly then stiffened and saluted his superior officer. "Admiral Rod, this is a surprise."

Admiral Rod returned the salute. "I thought I should hear your report in person rather than in a holographic transmission, plus I wanted to introduce a new addition to your battle group. I present to you Captain Willem Bush, commanding officer of the Tector-class battleship _INS Retribution_."

The Commodore's eyebrows rose up in surprise as the new captain saluted him. "It is an honour to meet you sir, I have been looking forward to serving under your command," he said professionally and Jack took a moment to look over his new captain. He was roughly in his early forties and stood a good couple of inches shorter than him. He had brown eyes that spoke of long experience and a short crop of ginger hair that was in the early stages of receding, had a gaunt face and a vaguely beak-like nose.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Jack as he searched his memory of known ship captains and pulled out a memory from three years before. "Weren't you in command of the Victory-class destroyer _RNS Victor_ at the Third Battle of Fondor in the Clone Wars?"

"That was a long time ago. I have now moved on to a bigger ship," the older captain said neutrally.

"It certainly is bigger than the old Victory-I class," said Hal with a slight chuckle. "And definitely far more powerful. In a one on one engagement I don't know if the _Challenger_ would even be able to engage it successfully without taking crippling damage without support. Especially with the improvements we've made to the _Retribution_."

"What improvements?" Jack asked, and he could detect a glimmer of a smile form on Captain Bush's lips which then disappeared just as quickly as it came.

"Follow me gentlemen," said Mister Blissex. He led them over to a nearby repulsorlift sled and inputted their destination, while the rest of the group sat down on the sled. Minutes later they arrived at another dry-dock and was then later led to an observation deck with a wide-angle view overlooking the bow of a 1.6 kilometre long dagger shaped battleship. Several zero g construction droids and yard workers were still installing a number of small weapons mounts and conducting final checks on one of the main gun turrets.

"Gentlemen and Lady, I present to you the _INS Retribution_, the latest addition to the _Challenger _Battle Group," Hal presented dramatically.

Jack was impressed, but not in awe of the _Retribution_ since while there are few Tector-class battleships far more were under construction along with the Imperial-class, but he quickly noticed a number of differences from a standard Tector. The most obvious was three four barrel heavy turbolaser turrets along the top centreline just ahead of the bridge tower, along with a number of smaller weapons that he didn't remember being a part of the standard design.

"I see you've made a few changes," Jack stated as he took a careful look at other views of the ship that were being displayed on a number of smaller monitors mounted to the ceiling.

"I see you've noticed. We've added a number of weapons systems, including some new point defence systems. An improved version of the CIWS turrets, which you'll be getting in your refit, and a number of new guns and eliminated as many blind spots as we could."

Jack smirked a little at Captain Bush. "If I wasn't so attached to the _Challenger_ I might have made the _Retribution_ my flagship," he said jokingly.

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't have her, besides I don't think you would like a couple of crewmembers that I have onboard," the older captain retorted mildly.

"Maybe we should have this conversation somewhere a little more privately," Admiral Rod suggested.

Once again they travelled by repulsor lift sled, but this time it was into the administrative area of the shipyards. Their destination the same conference room that Hal Hawks and Wallex Blissex had presented the plans for the _Challenger's_ first refit and post-Clone Wars overhaul. They each took a seat around the conference table and Captain Bush explained himself.

"I have a number of ISB officers stationed aboard my ship, and short of spacing them I can't get them off my ship," he explained in that same neutral tone, but his subtle body language revealed the career military officer's frustration. Commodore Hawks and Commander Hess's faces darkened considerably at such bad news. "There are currently two public officers that I know are coordinating a number of moles spread amongst my crew. Most of them I've known from my days in the Clone Wars, but with so many new recruits coming onboard to fill in the gaps it's nearly impossible to know who to trust these days."

"Unfortunately I've got some more bad news for you Commodore," began Admiral Rod apologetically. "ISB is sending agents to act as political officers and advisors to almost every ship in the fleet, which includes all of your big capital ships. I'm afraid they're now going to become a staple of the Imperial Navy."

"Great, which just makes staying off the Emperor's watch list all the more difficult, and make our job that little bit harder. Do we at least know who they are sending?"

The Admiral nodded and brought up a holo-bust of the agent. "His name is Colonel Neraj Riskovat. Former Republic Army intelligence who specialised in aggressive interrogations, most likely involving some kind of torture, and his methods towards the end of the Clone Wars just became worse and worse until he finally crossed the line even most in intelligence would never cross and he got booted out. He was recruited by ISB to conduct aggressive loyalty examinations only months after Order 66 was issued."

Commander Hess's fists tightened slightly in recognition, which Jack quickly recognised as a very strong indication of stress. With only a few brief looks they mutually agreed to talk about this later.

"All in all he's not that bad of an officer. He just enjoys his work, which just so happens to be making people tell him things that you wouldn't even reveal to your own mistress, and when he finds traitors he doesn't just go after the traitor, he goes after the ones closest to the traitor just to twist the knife even deeper," concluded the Admiral.

"Do we know when this white coat is scheduled to arrive?" Hal asked the admiral nervously, he didn't want this character anywhere near himself or his son.

"We have three weeks until he takes his post aboard the _Challenger_, which I assume is enough time for you to complete the refit?"

"More than enough time to do the repair work and reinstall the turrets that were destroyed in the battle," Mister Blissex answered quickly.

"Well there is a small problem we want you to address," began Commander Hess. "During our last major engagement our CIWS guns almost overheated themselves into uselessness and missed more than sixty percent of their targets, mostly missiles, due to extremely effective electronic countermeasures employed by the pirates."

Blissex had a quick thought about that. "The Separatists encountered almost the same amount of difficulty during the latter stages of the war and were forced to close the distance with Republic warships, that's why the Battle of Coruscant resembled more like a cantina brawl than a space engagement." He had Hal work his console and had him bring up a number of holos of various weapons, the one thing they all had in common was that they were all mass accelerator weaponry.

"One solution they utilized was to use an ancient, but surprisingly effective, principle into action. Flak guns. Explosive shells accelerated at the enemy fighters and missiles and detonated within close proximity of their targets." He nodded to Hal who worked his console again. The holos shown were of two different gun systems and a rotating Challenger. "I'm sure you recognise the standard 6 inch AV-8 mass accelerator cannon, which your ship carries thirty of. They can be armed with various types of shell, including flack, plasma, proton and ion shells. Excellent for long range interception. The other is the Bofors 40 millimetre gun. These fire a fairly cheap and effective 40 by 300 millimetre flak, proton or ion shells at 120 rounds per minute, mounted in quad mounts. These would provide a literal wall of fire and could be one of the most versatile weapon systems we've installed yet on the _Challenger_ and give you a few more options," said Blissex with a slight smile upon his lips.

All at the conference table were intrigued by the possibilities that these guns and their accompanying ammunition could provide.

"These weapons could be a good alternative to ion cannons, which suffer from short range limitations," Commander Hess mused. "The ionic pulses generated this new type of ordinance should be plenty strong enough to render most droid fighters control systems permanently scrambled."

"And the larger rounds of the 6 inch guns might be enough to put most small pirate ships out of action and help knock out the shields of larger vessels," said Jack with a smile. _More prize money for me and my crew_, he thought cunningly. "I assume that you can get all of this done quickly?"

"It'll be close, but once we're finished with the _Retribution_ we can move the droids and yard workers over to the _Challenger_ and get the work done faster," said Hal as he quickly consulted his computer.

"While I have you all here Commodore I have another mission for you. I'm sure you've heard the rumours of there being Jedi on Naboo?" the admiral asked.

Jack threw a quick glance at Captain Bush and Admiral Rod gave a quick nod in confirmation. The captain could be trusted. "Just the usual rumours and the occasional scuttlebutt, but nothing has come up through the official channels."

"The rumours are true," said a voice in a dark corner of the room. With lightning fast reflexes both Commander Hess, Captain Bush and Commodore Hawks spun in their chairs and raised their DC-17 hand blasters and pointed it at the source of the voice. The source stepped out and a man of average height and build with an equally unassuming face revealed himself to the group, and Admiral Rod chuckled slightly.

"You always knew how to make an entrance Jared," said the admiral to everyone's surprise, but none of the surprised officers lowered their weapons, while Jared merely stood there, as if having people pointing guns at him was normal. "Gentlemen, this is Commander Jared Macintyre, he's going to be your new intelligence officer for the battle group. He'll provide you with all the necessary intelligence for future missions, as well as provide some wet work for you and interdict any moves the ISB may make against you."

"In other words our own spy and assassin all in one," said an intrigued Commodore Hawks.

"A crude, but accurate description of my job. Though for the most part my job will consist of making sure the ISB Colonel doesn't catch wind of our true loyalty, which is not to Emperor Palpatine!" Jared answered with a small non-descript smirk which then melted into an ever present neutral smile. "The young Queen Apailana has been hiding Jedi on her planet. So far Admiral Yularen's faction of Imperial Intelligence have been able to slow the dissemination of the rumours, but it is only a matter of time before the Emperor catches wind of this and sends in Vader and the 501st to deal with her and the Jedi."

"Which brings me to your mission. In a week's time the yearly Festival of Lights will commence on Naboo. Various members of the galaxy's elite has been invited, as well as numerous military officers, including me. I however have too many obligations to the fleet, and since your ship is going to be in dry dock being repaired for the next three weeks I have designated you and companions of your choice as my representatives at the ball." The admiral's nose wrinkled distastefully. "Besides I've always hated such events, especially the compulsory Royal Ball and dance."

"And what exactly is it that you want us to do at the festival?" Commodore Hawks asked.

"I want you to speak to the queen personally and warn her that the Empire is closing in on the Jedi that she has in hiding on her planet. Tell her that if the Emperor finds out that she is harbouring these Jedi the Emperor will end her rule by either military force or assassination. Plus I think this could be a good opportunity for you to have a short vacation," the admiral concluded smiling.

"I assume me and my companion will be travelling by standard long range shuttle?"

"No Commodore Hawks, you will be travelling in style," said the admiral mischievously as he directed his gaze towards Captain Bush.

"A short hop to and from Naboo should provide us an adequate shakedown cruise for the _Retribution_," said Captain Bush.

"Is there a limit to how many companions I may take with me?" Jack asked.

"No, but I suggest no more than two."

Jack smiled mischievously at his xo. "So Commander, are you willing to join me and Kayla as my official date to this event?"

She narrowed her eyes in response. "You just want to see me and Kayla in dresses together, don't you?" she said mock accusingly.

He merely shrugged. "Can you blame me?"

"I guess I can't, besides this may be the only opportunity for you to see me in a dress," she said coyly.

There was a tense moment. Everybody in the room had heard about the commodore's man-hating xo, and here she was flirting with her commanding officer, and everyone's eyebrows rose up into their scalps.

"How did you housebreak your man hating xo, Jack?" Hal asked whisperingly to his son.

"I didn't!" he answered as Mirialia walked behind Hal.

"And don't forget my promise, mister Hawks," she loudly whispered to Hal, who nearly jumped out of his seat in fright, and everybody relaxed a little, but the admiral had a slightly humoured glint in his eye.

"Very good Commander, Commodore," said the admiral, just as his comlink began beeping, demanding his attention. "Admiral Rod here," he answered as a hologram of his chief aid sprang to life.

_"It's Lieutenant Halloran sir, your needed back on the _Guardian_, your ISB watchdog wants to talk to you, says that he has found a number of persons of interest!"_

"Damned white coats, always sticking their noses where they're not wanted," the admiral grumbled as he began to leave the conference room. "Good luck with your mission Jack. Hopefully you'll be able to convince the queen to change this dangerous path she has herself and her people on."

All of the admiral's subordinates rose up from their chairs and saluted him as he began to leave, which he returned and then left.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Nar Shaddaa**

**The Bolthole**

In the seedy underbelly of a Nar Shaddaa cantina called The Bolthole a blue-skinned Duros with a very distinctive hat enjoyed the local show of twi'lek strip dancers as he waited for his latest contact in the darkest corner of the room with the greatest view of all the exits, all the while absentmindedly chewing on a toothpick. Soon enough a small circular messenger droid came floating over to his table and landed on it. From a holo-emitter embedded on top of it sprang the form of a human.

_"Hello Cad Bane, I apologize for not being able to meet you in person, but I have need of your services."_

Bane merely sneered at the holo. "And what sort of job does the powerful Arulo Csalas want me to do for him that you could not do yourself?"

_"I need you to eliminate a certain Imperial officer,"_ stated Csalas as a holo-image of the target replaced his visage. _"His name is Commodore Jack Hawks, he recently caused a serious setback for my fleet of pirates and I need him permanently taken out of the picture."_

"I heard of that little mess. He won't be an easy target to get to, he no doubt doesn't leave his command ship all that often and only for a day at a time which is almost impossible to predict," hedged Bane.

_"Fortunately I know where he is going to be next week. He is being sent to Naboo to attend the Festival of Lights as his commanding officer's representative. That should provide you with more than enough opportunity to kill him."_

"Well now, you have my attention. If I'm going to take this job I'll need an advance on my fee, for various expenses, you understand."

The pirate's face twisted distastefully at the sound of that. _"I'll pay you one quarter in advance, the rest I'll pay upon completion of the mission, and let me make this clear, this is not a negotiation!"_

"You've got a deal pal, but remember I always collect my due from my employers," said Bane, smirking at the annoyed look upon the former Separatist officer, just before the holo shut down and a data-chip popped out of the droids little head and Bane took it and began to leave the cantina, only to come face to face with Cato Parasitti.

"Remember me?" he asked quietly as the clawdite bounty hunter instantly recognized Bane and went for her side-arm, but Bane was faster as he shot and killed her with a single blast from his custom heavy blaster pistol into her chest, who fell down to the deck smoking from the blaster wound, instantly cauterized.

Absentmindedly he tossed a few local credits at the man at the bar, an amphibian bartender. "Scrape that scum off the floor before it stinks up the place even more than it already is."

The bartender nodded and pocketed the credits as Bane left The Bolthole, while cleaning droids began to dispose of the dead body on the floor.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Hawks Shipyards**

On the way back to the _Challenger_ on the repulsor sled Commander Hess and Commodore Hawks remained silent. The tension between them grew until Jack could no longer take it. He quickly gripped her right upper arm and stepped off the sled only a few dozen metres away from the docking tube and into an observation dome overlooking their ship. He quickly sealed the door and blacked out the observation dome's window so none of the workers working on the _Challenger_ wouldn't see them.

"Alright Commander, what's your history with Colonel Riskovat?" he asked directly, still gripping her by her upper arm. A moment later she overcame her shock of Jack manhandling and roughly shook him off of her. Her eyes tightened and her mouth twisted into an ugly sneer.

"Don't you dare touch me like that again," she quickly spat back at him.

His own eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Now I know that there is definitely more to this than meets the eye, and it's obvious that it affects you, and right now I can see you want to lash out at me, you even want to kill me don't you? But I'm not the real source of your anger am I? I've just given you the excuse to let your anger express itself, and I've seen you take your anger out on just about everyone of the crewmembers, except for the clones and the few female crewmembers aboard ship. Now I need you to tell me what is eating you up inside!"

She quickly calmed down, but the anger was still there, lingering beneath the surface and still plain to see in her eyes. "You're a man, you wouldn't understand what it is like for me as a woman, especially in the beginning in my career, but I'm better now, I've been to some counselling."

"How often?" he asked pointedly.

"Just a couple of one hour long sessions when I had leave. I even have a couple set up in two weeks time, luckily their well after our assignment on Naboo," she sniffed slightly and her eyes watered up slightly, but never let any tears go.

"It's obvious that you need to talk about this more often and with somebody you trust. Hess you've known me for the past three years, I'd like to think that you would consider me a friend, or at least an ally. You know that if you're in pain you can come to me and your friends aboard ship that know you," he said as he lay a comforting hand upon her shoulder. She instantly recoiled from his touch, as though she had been burned.

"Please Mirialia, tell me!" he asked a little more gently as he again reached out to her, both emotionally and physically, and this time she didn't recoil away from him, even allowed herself to relax and allow herself to feel safe for the first time in the company of a male.

"You remember what I told you about Commodore Delmar's attempted rape of me?" she asked, and Jack nodded in reply. "Well he wasn't the first man who tried to force himself upon me. I met Colonel Riskovat just after the Clone Wars began. Back then I was only a recent graduate from the CorSec Academy and pushed into a lieutenant's position on a Republic Frigate. He was a major in Republic Army Intelligence back then and my ship was assigned to transport his team. He was so charming back then, or so I thought, I was so naive back then."

Jack could see the pain come back into her eyes, almost like she was reliving the pain of memory. "The only difference between Riskovat and Delmar is that Riskovat was the one who was successful," she stated, her voice strained with barely contained pain, and still she pressed on, feeling the pain ebb away slightly as she began to feel a little safer. Jack barely managed to contain his horror at what his xo had experienced. "He hurt me so bad. He targeted me, I believe, because he overheard one careless statement I made in the ship's mess, I can't even remember the comment, something that he interoperated as Separatist sympathies, and he started with trying to make me confess as a Separatist sympathiser. Then he began to slap me around, and I fought back. You saw the scratch marks on his neck?"

Jack nodded, remembering the deep gouges in his neck he had assumed he got in some hand to hand combat during the war with a BX-series droid.

"That was my handiwork, but he was so strong he overpowered me. He tore off my uniform, and..." with that she began with small hicks, then degenerated into uncontrollable sobs, and Jack embraced her as she let out her emotions, alone with him, the only man, who was not a clone, who has ever shown her proper respect and not be afraid of her.

"I was lucky though, all things considered. One of his fellow agents caught him before he completed his business and threw him off of me. The real tragedy was that just a few weeks later that same officer that saved me was killed on an intelligence gathering op on Christophsis, most likely on Major Riskovat's orders. Now that he has the power of the Imperial Security Bureau at his back..."

"I'm here now, and I promise you that this monster will never again touch you," Jack swore softly into her ear. They stood there in the observation dome for several long minutes, which felt like hours to the both of them, but for career military officers their duties are never more than a comlink away. Neither are nosy parents who just happen to be on the same space station.

_"Jack where are you? I need to talk about the hundreds of tons of loot you just shipped to my shipyards,"_ his father loudly asked over the intercom, breaking the mood.

Very quickly Commander Hess dried her tears and straightened out her uniform and adopted her traditional stern business face. "Another reason why I hate your father," she grumbled under her breath.

_"I know you dragged your xo into the observation dome, so I expect you two to clean up after yourselves."_

This caused both of them to redden greatly, and Jack quickly activated his comlink. "You had better not be broadcasting this over the entire station, or else?"

The old man merely chortled. _"Don't worry my boy, it's all on a private channel. Nobody but you, Mirialia, and everyone in this room with me can hear you."_

"Sir, I know he's your father, but can I please maim him, just a little," Commander Hess asked pleadingly.

"Don't tempt me," he responded, knowing that Hal could hear everything they said over his comlink. "I'll meet you up at your office in a few minutes." He then switched off his comlink then took Commander Hess's upper arms in his hands and gave them a short reassuring squeeze. "You feeling better now?"

"Much better, and a lot safer," she said, and then completely out of the blue rushed forward and embraced him. "Thank you for listening and not judging me."

"You're welcome commander, just remember what I said, my door is always open for you." He smiled reassuringly at her then walked out of the observation dome. As she watched him leave she felt a slight ache in her heart, but hope still welled up inside her of their upcoming trip.

_I just have to try to share him with Aayla and the _Challenger_ I guess,"_ she shrugged to herself and found that the idea didn't sound so bad.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

_**INS Challenger**_

**Sickbay**

The atmosphere of the sickbay aboard the _Challenger_ was relatively relaxed. No one was rushing around and no one was calling out in pain, and Aayla was basking in the momentary peace while Ahsoka and Barris snoozed more peacefully in their beds than they had earlier, and since she had first seen them she had not left their side except to go to the bathroom and the nurses had graciously brought up her meals from the mess hall.

As she was eating her lunch she immediately sensed a very familiar presence approaching sickbay, and she felt that persons conflicted emotions swirling beneath a heavily controlled emotionless mask. She closed her dark hazel eyes and centred herself while still eating her lunch.

Her new guest came into the sickbay and immediately spotted the closed off section and made a beeline for Aayla and her two fellow Jedi. "Welcome Commander Hess. What brings you to sickbay?" Aayla asked in the most serene and peaceful tone she could muster.

Commander Hess snorted in amusement at her friend. "You always know who is coming without seeing them. How do you do that?"

She merely rose her right eyebrow and opened up her right eye with an amused twinkle in it. "Do you really want me to answer that here?"

"No," she answered shortly. " Kayla I need to talk to you in private."

Aayla for a moment almost forgot her cover name, having spent so much time with her old friends. She nodded and followed Commander Hess out of the sickbay and into a corridor deep within the ship, far away from the damaged sections and away from any of the still active duty stations.

"Kayla I have some good news and some bad news, which do you want to hear," Commander Hess asked, her nervousness broke slightly through her mask.

"The bad news first I believe, that way I have something to look forward to," she answered.

"The Admiral just informed us that the ISB has begun to put their agents aboard naval ships as political officers and advisors aboard every navy capital ship. Ours is scheduled to arrive in three weeks and there's something you should know. His name is Colonel Neraj Riskovat, and his reputation is not a good one. He made a name for himself exposing various officers who he felt were treasonous to both the Republic and the New Order after Order 66, and he is an unrepentant xenophobe, much like Commodore Delmar if you remember?"

Aayla nodded in understanding. "So the fleet is getting some new watchdogs. What's going to happen to Barris and Ahsoka?"

"They are going to be transferred to a medical frigate along with the other slaves, wounded and the dead which will take them to Corellia and then on to the Coronet Medical Academy for further treatment," Commander Hess said reassuringly.

"I suppose this may also be an opportunity for them to possibly find out if any of the Corellian Jedi managed to escape the massacre, once they have healed," said Aayla thoughtfully. "You said you had some good news?"

"I don't know if this is good news or not, but the admiral has asked the Commodore to be his representative to the Festival of Lights on Naboo," said Commander Hess, then became slightly nervous. "And he has chosen the two of us to be his designated guests at the festival."

Both of Aayla's eyebrows rose all the way up her forehead in surprise. "Why both of us? Why not just one of us, or even just me?"

"Most likely to give everyone the impression that he supports the emperor's human centric policies, and give you the opportunity to search for any Jedi that may be in hiding on Naboo," said Mirialia to Aayla's increasing surprise as her eyebrows rose ever higher, if possible. "It could also be because this may be the once in a lifetime opportunity for him to see the two of us in dresses together," she said coyly to Aayla's rapidly increasing embarrassment. "Which reminds me I don't really have anything to wear," said Mirialia with her own slight blush of embarrassment tingeing her cheeks.

"Well then, I'll just have to remedy your situation," said Aayla warmly. "It will be a very pleasant surprise for Jack when he sees us, maybe we can even have a little fun with him," she continued as she slinked her right arm around Mirialia's waist as she smirked and thoroughly enjoyed the shocked and scandalized look upon her human friend's face, who decided to turn the tables on the twi'lek, by running her left hand along the sensitive portions of Aayla's lekku, which made her unconsciously moan in delight.

"Jack's not the only one who appreciates a fine female specimen. Meet me in my quarters in four hours. I'll be off duty at that time and we can discuss what to wear for the commodore's pleasure," Mirialia whispered into her ear seductively and left the flustered twi'lek to go back on duty with a rare smile on her lips.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

AN:I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and write a review, give me your thoughts please, either on or in the discussion thread on Spacebattles.


	11. Royal Entanglements

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 11: Royal Entanglements**

**Naboo, one week later**

The space surrounding the planet Naboo was tranquil and relatively peaceful, except for a number of Golan III defence platforms and the relatively few ships that were entering and exiting the atmosphere. In a high parking orbit the Tector-class star destroyer _INS Retribution_ stood vigil over the planet and launched a single Lambda-class personnel shuttle from its small starboard hangar bay. In addition to its two person crew there were two passengers and one piece of 'property' along with their luggage.

Commodore Jack Hawks lounged in his seat as the shuttle made its entry, almost nodding off since he had gone through such atmospheric entries plenty of times before, it had now become routine for him. With him was Commander Mirialia Hess, and she was not anywhere near as laid back as Jack was, still sitting at rigid attention and concentrating on a set of manuals she had downloaded to her personal data-pad. The last member of their group, and publically known as Jack's property, was Kayla Macula, also known as Aayla Secura, sat in between the two officers and was leaning on Jack, softly caressing his right arm as her right foot played a little with Mirialia's leg, which had caused her to stiffen and try to ignore the attractive blue skinned twi'lek's teasing actions.

"Have you been to Naboo before, Commodore," the commander asked in a slightly higher pitched tone than usual, to both Jack's and Kayla's bemusement.

"Once a couple of decades ago, just a few months after the Trade Federation Occupation ended. My dad was doing some contract work for CEC on Naboo; they were upgrading their military forces. Me and my mom tagged along and spent most of the three months that we were there helping out wherever we could. My dad somehow arranged for me to meet the queen at that time, Padme Amidala, as a small treat." He chuckled a little. "Imagine me as a wide eyed teenager from Corellia actually meeting royalty."

"And now you're going to meet another and this time you're a military officer," said Mirialia as she relaxed a little and even started to enjoy the attention Kayla was giving to her leg, but it was soon cut short as the pilots announced that they had begun the landing cycle.

The shuttle travelled gracefully through the atmosphere and made its approach to Theed Spaceport. The spaceport was a typical Naboo structure, intricate stonework blending seamlessly with the natural environment. The shuttle touched down softly and the three passengers immediately felt the pleasant warmth of the local sun caress their faces as they felt a gentle breeze whisper past, cooling them as a human in Naboo servant's attire approached them.

"Welcome to Naboo, Commodore Hawks, I am Dell Garner, I have been assigned as your butler for the duration of your stay," he announced as he bowed respectfully to his charges. "If you would follow me please I will take you to your lodgings." He snapped his fingers and a number of servant droids began to take their recently offloaded luggage. The three new arrivals followed their butler to a speeder, a local model that spoke of the Naboo sense of style and environmentally sound technologies that they were renowned for. They sped off towards the centre of the capital Theed and took in its beauty. The palace itself seemed to dominate the city, yet still blended in with nature successfully.

They were led on a short tour of the palace by the butler, explaining the various pieces of artwork along the way to their suites, which ranged from beautiful statues to oil paintings, along with the spectacular architecture. Soon enough they were shown their suites, a pair of single bedroom apartments with a very luxurious feel to them, and both were connected via a removable wall which could effectively combine the two into one.

"If you like I could have the dividing wall removed," said Mister Garner.

"That will not be necessary," said Jack quickly to pre-empt the commander's angry outburst of such an invasion of her privacy.

"Very well sir! You should also note that these two suites share a bathroom, so I respectfully suggest that you knock every time before you use it," he said with a dignified poise. "I assume that your body servant will be staying in your suite, Commodore?" the butler asked politely.

"No, she'll be sleeping in the Commander's suite, but if anyone asks tell them that the twi'lek slave is sleeping in the same bed as me," said Jack with a pointed look at the butler, which brokered no argument.

"It will be as you say, sir. Your luggage has already been delivered to your rooms and the Festival of Lights begins at sundown, so you have plenty of time to get ready. Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you mister Garner," said Jack as the butler left, leaving behind Jack and his two companions who immediately began to help him unpack. As Jack was unpacking he groaned in annoyance. "I wish I didn't have to wear this damned dress uniform," he said as he fished out said dress uniform from his luggage and looked at it in undisguised loathing. "The damned thing is so tight and uncomfortable. Is there any way I can get away with just my duty uniform?" he asked his two female companions pleadingly.

"Sorry sir, but it is protocol for such functions to wear full dress uniforms. At least we female officers get to wear a dress," said Mirialia smiling, along with Kayla who hadn't seen him in his dress greys before.

"I look forward to seeing you in your dress uniform Jack," said Kayla. "I bet you would look rather dashing in it."

"And I look forward to seeing the two of you in dresses. What exactly did you buy back on Corellia?" Jack asked.

"It's a surprise," said Mirialia with a smile as both she and Kayla sauntered off towards their own suite. Both added a little extra sway to their hips.

"I swear those two are going to be the death of me," said Jack as soon as the door closed behind the two and out of earshot.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Theed Royal Palace Courtyard**

**Just before sundown**

Just before dusk began to settle in the west the guests began to pour out of the palace and into the courtyard, and Jack was waiting patiently outside his suite in his Dress Greys waiting for his two companions to come out. The first one out was Kayla who was dressed in a traditional twi'lek ceremonial dress, which was an all white outfit with a headdress that covered and restricted her lekku, silk veils that hugged her body contours, particularly around her bust and exposed a fair amount of cleavage, and a pair of white high heeled shoes that forced her into a constant elegant poise. Her outfit was definitely made to entice and enflame any male's libido.

Next to come out was Mirialia. In stark contrast to Kayla she wore a slinky black dress that emphasized her own athletic physique. It seemed to loop around her neck, expose a generous amount of cleavage and left her back completely exposed down to the small of her back. There was a slit that went along her side from her waist and as she walked she enticingly exposed her legs, just for brief flashes, but it was enough to get Jack's blood hotter. She also wore black high heeled shoes, and to Jack's surprise she seemed just as comfortable in them as she was in normal boots or shoes.

Both females took in the look in Jack's eyes and saw that they had both achieved their objective. Turn Jack a drooling idiot at the sight of them.

"Like what you see, Commodore?" Mirialia asked impishly, just as both she and Kayla stood closer together and linked their arms together, contrasting with each other, yet still they were the same. A pair of attractive ladies, and Jack was tongue tied.

He finally shook himself out of his stupor. "Ladies, if I didn't know any better I'd say the pair of you were goddesses."

Both women smiled and both linked their arms with his. Kayla on his left and Mirialia on his right, and he led them down to the palace courtyard where the rest of the guests were congregating, all wearing their best outfits. All three of them enjoyed the last few rays of sunshine as the sun set and the sky began to turn blood red, which slowly faded over the next half hour into dark blue and the stars began to shine and the local nebula became visible which combined with the few clouds in the sky to create some interesting shapes in the night sky.

A floodlight suddenly flashed into existence and illuminated a nearby balcony and the young Queen Apailana stepped into the light, resplendent in a ceremonial red dress, her face a powdered white with dark red lips, standing serene and proud as she looked out upon her guests.

"Welcome to the opening of the Festival of Light. It has now been eight-hundred-and-fifty years since we first joined the Republic, and two-and-a-half years since the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of the New Order. May it last forever," she concluded with her arms raised and outstretched with bilious robes extended from her arms down to her legs like wings and the fireworks began.

Small rockets flew high into the air, leaving behind thin trails of multi-coloured sparks then exploded, lighting up the sky with small shockwaves of reds, blues and gold. Several silver rockets flew up then separated into many more smaller silver darts that drew pictures of various native animals, from aiwhas to sando aqua monsters, while still more multi-coloured rockets continued to rise up to splash more colours in the sky.

As the grand finale a massive red rocket rose up from behind the palace. Suddenly it began to come apart. First the nose cone split open like blooming flower, revealing a krayt dragon's head, then the main cylinder broke up and fell away, disappearing in showers of red sparks that fell harmlessly upon the guests, and revealed a huge red krayt dragon with skeletal wings that extended from its back and spread wide. It banked almost lazily to the left then began to dive towards the courtyard. Everyone, but the queen and the few military officers in the crowd, became nervous as it dove towards them, and several of the guests began to flee before it. The dragon flew only a few feet above everyone's heads, and everyone either ducked or dove instinctively to avoid it, and the queen smiled mischievously in mirth as she watched the politicians dive for cover in fright.

The dragon flew far away into the distance after it made its dive until it could barely be seen, then exploded in a cacophony of light and sound, colouring the horizon with all the colours of the rainbow, and everyone applauded the display in awe of the show that the Queen had put on for them.

With a sweeping gesture the queen continued, "If everyone would join me in the ballroom, the dance shall begin!"

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Naboo, **

**Theed Royal Palace**

**Ballroom**

Minutes later everyone was gathered in the ballroom. It was a vast circular chamber within the palace with a high domed ceiling with a number of crystal chandeliers floating in midair with a central light source within each one that cast a shimmering light and created a vast kaleidoscope of colours that reflected off the shimmering white marble walls and high up the curving walls were a number of tall mirrors that reflected the light back again to the dance-floor.

The dance itself was opened by the queen herself with her current suitor, a young nobleman, and everyone joined their dance partners. Jack was not comfortable at all in this setting. The music was not something he was used to, and the atmosphere was stifling. Too many stuffed shirts and not enough genuine fun, but he was ordered to come here by his superior officer and it did have its perks at least. He loosened himself from Mirialia and Kayla and extended his hand in an invitation to dance to Mirialia. At Kayla's confused look he quietly said, "Begin looking around for your hidden friends. See if they are anywhere close."

She nodded and moved away, heading for the any dark spots she could possibly conceal herself in as she began to extend her senses to search for any Jedi that might be hiding in the palace, possibly hidden in plain sight as guards or servants.

In the meantime Jack and Mirialia began to dance a simple waltz through the crowd of dancers, both surprised by the grace and skill they both showed each other.

"I didn't know you could dance," said Mirialia in surprise.

"I'm a man of many talents," he answered with a playful smile as they continued to dance.

In the meantime Kayla mingled with the other guests, her senses at maximum sensitivity. As all three of them suspected no one paid much notice to the exotic slave walking among them, and those that did notice was only interested in her enticing form and not truly questioning her presence. She soon sensed a familiar presence, but did not immediately recognise it. The presence revealed itself to be the young nobleman dancing with the queen. He was roughly the same age as Queen Apailana, with light brown hair and wore maroon robes customary of Naboo royalty.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she searched her memory for people she may have known or have seen in her years, but she just couldn't place his face.

"I see you have recognised one of your own," said a rather quiet, yet masculine voice right next to her left ear. She froze for several seconds, since she had not sensed his presence at all until he began speaking to her.

"Who are you?" she asked in a quiet yet deadly tone as she surreptitiously fingered a tiny white holdout blaster concealed in the folds of her dress as she turned towards this unknown adversary and her eyes widened in surprise as she instantly recognised the yellow kiffar facial tattoo that went across his face and nose.

"Don't you recognise your old master?" he asked bemused as he quickly took her hands and began to dance with her.

"Maser Vos, I thought you were dead?"

"Almost was my dear former apprentice. I was badly burned on Kashyyyk and took a long time to heal," he said quietly. His eyes wandered to the slim leather slave-collar on her swan-like blue neck and the other changes to her body. "You've changed, and you're a slave. What happened to you?"

She gulped nervously. "I have been hiding in plain sight as the 'indentured servant' of Commodore Jack Hawks. He found me in my starfighter and has since been hiding me from the emperor's eyes and ears." She saw that this angered her former master. "He is a good man who believes in democracy, but now lives in a world of darkness and terror. I am trying to be the guiding light he needs to stay true to his beliefs."

Vos looked deep into Aayla's hazel eyes and saw that things had changed on the inside just as much as on the surface. "You have a connection to this Commodore Hawks, don't you?!"

She could only nod yes in response.

"It's ironic isn't it? You were the one who warned me not to get too attached to my wife, and now you are the one who is in love with someone special."

Her eyes widened again in surprise, both at the irony of her situation and at the revelation that her former master is now married. "You married that purple haired thief?" she said in astonishment, almost loud enough to be heard.

"Careful Aayla, you don't want everyone to hear us talking. Besides, what are you and your master doing here anyway, this isn't exactly his scene?" he asked.

"My name is now Kayla Macula! My true name is used only in private and where there are no prying ears to hear it. Besides what are you doing here?" she retorted.

"I asked first. Your master is the commanding officer of an Anti-Piracy Fleet battle-group. No offense to him, but he is small-fry in comparison to most of the big-wigs that were invited here!"

"He was sent here to be the representative for Admiral Rod. Apparently he hates these sorts of events. He also believes that we would have a better chance of speaking with the queen without drawing too much attention." Aayla lowered her voice even further. "We have reason to believe that the empire may soon catch wind of the queen's hiding of Jedi on her planet and may be considering military options for dislodging the emperor's hold on her planet. Our main objective is to warn her and any Jedi in hiding here and make her reconsider such plans."

Vos' face took on a worried look. "It may be too late for that." Aayla looked confused for a moment and Vos elaborated. "Some of the Jedi in hiding here have already talked both the queen and the gungans into attacking the local Imperial garrison and power station."

Aayla's face took on a horrified expression. "But that's not the Jedi way. Why are they doing this?"

"They are angry and not thinking straight. They cannot see the possible consequences of their actions. They have been hurt and they feel the need to hurt the Empire in any way they can, to show the galaxy that the emperor's war machine is not invincible. I myself am against such action, but the angriest of us have the loudest voices and seem to have the ear of both the queen and the gungan bosses."

"This is not good. I need to tell Jack," she said as the last waltz began to die down and the dancers slowed to a stop. She quickly curtsied to her former master and left him, making a beeline for Jack.

She could see him smiling with Commander Hess who was heading for the buffet table for some reason. Aayla quickly reached Jack's side just before the next slow-dance was about to begin. Seeing Aayla coming towards him with a very serious look upon her face he quickly reached her side and as the music began again they danced, with Aayla hugging close to his body, almost grinding into him.

"We have a serious problem on our hands!" she said quietly into Jack's ear.

"What is it?"

"I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I found my former master, Quinlan Vos. The bad news is that several of the Jedi in hiding here have convinced the queen that military action is required to get rid of the empire at this time."

Jack had the same look in his eyes as Aayla had in hers. "This is bad. If they move now the empire will just send in Vader and the 501st to crush them before they can free this world. We need time to prepare a real rebellion. Not this haphazard half measure this surely will turn out to be."

"I agree, but how do we approach the queen without looking suspicious?"

"We don't. She will approach me. By tradition the queen dances with all of the highest ranked people at any ball. As a representative of Admiral Rod it will soon be my turn. She has just finished a dance with the governor, now it's the emperor's representative's turn, after that I will no doubt get my chance," said Jack confidently.

"Be careful Jack. She may not receive you well, seeing as you've brought along a slave with you to the ball," Aayla cautioned.

"Don't worry, I can handle the young queen, you just keep your senses on alert, and it's good that you and your former master are reunited again," he said smiling as the waltz came to an end and another began. Mirialia had just returned to Jack's side as the queen gracefully approached the Commodore.

"Commodore Hawks, I see that your reputation is well deserved," she said in greeting to both him and his two companions.

"And what reputation would that be, if I may ask your highness," he said with a gracious bow of the head. His first impression of her was that she was short, seeing as the queen's head barely reached his chest.

"That you always have at least two beautiful women at your side at all times, as evidenced by your two companions. I have also heard that you are a most capable ship-handler, having just recently defeated the Separatist pirate Captain Arulo Csalas."

"Both are true and one of them is well-deserved, but Csalas has only been defeated and still has a sizeable force hiding out in the Outer Rim. He may have escaped my clutches, but rest assured we will catch him, sooner or later!"

"Well, enough of such serious talk. I feel the need to dance, and this song just happens to be one of my favourites. Care to join me?" she asked, though it sounded more like a command.

"It would be a pleasure your highness," Jack replied as he reluctantly disentangled himself from his two lovely companions and joined the queen on the dance floor.

The music had a slightly faster rhythm to it, and Jack noticed it was mostly younger men and women and a small minority of officers who had managed to maintain their fit physique who were dancing to this tune. By the look of joy that seemed to break through the queen's ingrained neutral expression he could see that she was enjoying this dance, and surprisingly he was having a little bit of fun too.

Soon enough the music slowed for a little while, and Jack took the opportunity to talk with her. "Imperial Intelligence knows about the Jedi you have in hiding here on this planet, and I just found out that you and the gungan Bosses have decided to follow the advice of a few angry Jedi."

The young queen looked back into his eyes and Jack saw terror in those warm brown eyes of hers. Her voice barely above a whisper she asked, "If they know, why haven't they deposed me yet?"

"Because the reports haven't reached Vader and his Emperor yet and our allies in Imperial Intelligence cannot sit on this forever. I suggest that you call off this attack immediately and get the Jedi off-planet as soon as possible! "

"It is already too late, Commodore. The attack commences within the next couple of hours. The Jedi and the gungans are committed, and so am I. If we are successful it may be enough to show the other worlds that the Imperial war-machine is not invincible. If the attack fails and Vader comes then our deaths will show the Empire's true face," she answered her face a stone mask.

"Then I hope for your sake that you have a very good escape plan, otherwise I don't see you surviving long," said Jack as he broke away from the queen as the last song came to an end. As he walked away the queen stood straight and regal, giving nothing away as she moved onto another high profile guest.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Theed Palace,**

**Servant's Walkways**

In the hidden servant's walkways there was constant activity as various servants and droids in the employ of the palace came and went, carrying various luxury food items and drinks for the palace' near thousand guests of the evening.

Among the many servants in the walkway a single tall and slim servant stood stoically as one of the higher ranking servants, one of a dozen managers began to give him orders. "I need you to get these up the ballroom bar, the place is starting to run dry, and help out with mixing and serving drinks when you get up there," the manager said shortly as he shoved a case of expensive wine from Alderaan into his arms.

"I'll get it up there," the servant replied as he took the case and set off towards the ballroom, following the helpful signs that lined the many walkways and tunnels. He soon came to a flight of stairs that would take him up behind the bar, out of sight from the guests. He grumbled to himself as he ascended the stairs. "This is a job for droids!" For a brief moment the air around him flickered and revealed beneath his holographic disguise his true appearance, a blue skinned duros with cold calculating red eyes that glowed with malevolence. "Next time I'll get a droid to do recon."

Soon enough he got up the flight of stairs and entered the ballroom bar, just in time to see one of his secondary targets was about to order a drink, the human Commander Mirialia Hess, and now that he was seeing her in person he could see why his employers wanted her captured, preferably alive. He also quickly spotted his primary target, Commodore Hawks, dancing with the queen of all things. He quickly set aside the case he was carrying behind the bar and moved towards the bar to serve her.

"What can I get you?" he asked politely.

"Two glasses of wine please?" she requested.

"Coming right up!" He quickly brought up a pair of glasses and began to pour the wine into the glasses. As he poured he applied a wafer thin membrane underneath the base of the glasses, a tiny listening device so he could listen in on the Commodore's companions and anyone within a one metre radius. The Commander was absorbed in watching her commanding officer dancing and talking with the queen and never noticed the seemingly common bartender apply the listening devices.

"Your drinks madam?" the duros in disguise prodded lightly.

"Thank you," she replied shortly and stepped away from the bar, and took a quick sip from her glass as she walked back to her friend, the duros' second target he instantly recognised from Csalas's description on the chip he got on Nar Shadaa. He quickly put an earwig into his ear and remote activated the two listening devices. There was some static at first, then voices came in loud and clear. Without anyone noticing he slipped away and headed for a quiet little hideaway he had scoped out earlier, a little used storage closet deep in the bowels of the palace in the servants wing, and the holographic camouflage dropped away as its power source ran out of energy, revealing the bounty hunter Cad Bane in all his blue glory, with brown leather trench-coat, trousers and boots, sans his trademark hat which he had take off for this occasion.

He quickly fine-tuned the listening devices to amplify the voices of Commodore Hawks and his two companions so he could hear them clearly using sound bites provided by his employer of the Commodore and his companions' voices. The recordings of Hawks and Hess he could understand how Csalas could get, but how he got access to a recording of the commodore's twi'lek slave he couldn't even guess, but he was thankful for it as they made his job that little bit easier.

Soon enough the conversation became interesting, after both Commander Hess and the twi'lek slave had fended off multiple suitors, the Commodore finally returned to them.

_"You look as if someone shot your kath hound, what happened with the queen?"_ Commander Hess asked worriedly.

_"It's as bad as we feared. There is going to be an attack upon the local Imperial Garrison by local gungan and Jedi. The queen believes there is no time to get them to call it off, but she doesn't know that we have an ally in this ballroom, does she, Master Vos?"_

At that Bane's eyes widened in surprise as another voice he recognised from a confrontation with the Jedi during the Clone Wars joined in the conversation.

_"Indeed! I have already sent word to my compatriots. There may be a few dissenters, but most of them were against this action. I am worried though that those few dissenters will not listen, and may just attack anyway."_

_"Leave that to me. Do you have the location of where the staging area is?" _Bane wondered what the Commodore was planning.

_"Yes, what do you intend to do?"_ Vos asked worriedly.

_"Just leave them to me. If they don't see reason I'll have to call in the _Retribution _to conduct an orbit-to-surface bombardment!"_

Bane's eyes widened in surprise at the steel in the commodore's voice, having heard that Commodore Hawks was rumoured to be a big softie.

_"You cannot be serious?"_ said Vos, clearly alarmed by the Commodore's statements.

_"As serious as a heart-attack. If they are not stopped a potential ally for the future could be lost!"_

_"And if you conduct an orbital bombardment you'll lose any possibility of support for any rebellion from any of the factions on this planet or anywhere else in the galaxy. Let me put a stop to this my way, before you unleash hell on this planet!"_

Bane could not imagine what was going through the Commodore's mind, nor did he care. What he did care about was that this was evidence of his collusion with the Jedi, enough to put him away without necessitating him to kill him, plus when he inevitably escaped he might just get rehired to kill him, doubling or possibly tripling his profit margin, which made him pull his signature greedy grin, which got wider as he continued to listen in.

_"Fine, we'll do it your way, but mark my words Vos there will be severe consequences if you fail to convince them."_

"Oh the consequences are going to be most dire for you commodore once my employer has this recording of you conversing with that Jedi, which you so helpfully named, you will be the one in chains." He continued to listen in for a little bit longer.

_"What are the chances of your former master convincing the gungans and the Jedi to call this off?"_ he heard the commodore ask.

_"I'm not entirely sure. I do not know who they are or what they've been through, but I can tell you this. If they all felt the death screams as acutely as I did, then they are most likely extremely angry and would do anything to get back at the Empire and the clones who serve him!"_

"You are an interesting man, commodore. Not only do you associate with Jedi, you're also harbouring one. This could be more profitable than I ever could have imagined," Cad Bane mused to himself, but then remembered, "but then that would also mean abandoning the bounty on your head which clearly states they want you terminated, and that could leave a stain on my otherwise perfect record."

Seconds later the voices of his three targets vanished, most likely a servant had taken their glasses and now he was only hearing the constant background chatter of the other guests. He turned off his listening devices, which immediately fried the micro-circuitry in them and turned them into useless films of plastic, and began to study the layout of the palace, also procured by his employer, but he still needed to find out where the Commodore and his companions were staying.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Naboo**

**Lianorm Swamp**

Former Jedi Master Quinlan Vos was racing through the forest, dodging past various trees and animals, both small and large, on foot, using the Force to boost his speed. He was racing against the chronometer, he needed to get to the staging area before it was too late. He had to convince the gungans and his fellow Jedi not to attack the local imperial garrison. Finally he reached the staging area, a wide open clearing in the middle of the swamp, where he could see several squads worth of gungans and a small group of four Jedi in robes and armour. A human, an iridonian and a pair of twi'leks, a male and female .

He soon spotted the one responsible for this little gathering. "Knight Finn Shysanar, we need to talk!" he said quickly with no room for argument in his tone.

The younger man looked at the older kiffar in a slightly annoyed mood, but followed him off to the north side of the clearing, out of earshot from both the Jedi and the gungans.

"This better be good, Master Vos, we're just about to commence our attack on the garrison and their power generator!"

"Listen to me young man, Imperial Intelligence already knows we're here on this planet. The only reason Vader and his 501st has not come down on us is because of our hidden allies in Imperial Intelligence is keeping the information from him and his emperor, but that can't last forever. We have to leave now, while we still have a chance!"

"We can't, we are committed to this. We must show the galaxy that we are still here and we are willing to fight!" Knight Shysanar retorted harshly.

"And risk all of these people's lives and the life of the Naboo queen, just for revenge?" Master Vos asked harshly.

"It's not revenge, it's justice! They destroyed the Order. Our home. The only home I have ever known, and the clones, Vader and Palpatine are the ones responsible for all of this," Shysanar shouted, not knowing that his voice was carrying and attracted the attention of the gungan general and the other Jedi.

"What's going on here?" the iridonian Jedi asked.

"Nothing is going on, Mekat! Go back to the others," said Shysanar in a strained voice.

"Then why are you yelling at Master Vos loud enough for everyone to hear?"

The atmosphere became ever more tense as Shysanar's temper began to flare and Vos began to stare Shysanar down, hard!

"What's going on Master Vos?" Mekat asked nervously.

"Imperial Intelligence knows we're here. If you attack now you'll bring the entire empire down on our heads and we will all end up dead before the week is over, and this planet will fall under a military occupation and the queen will be deposed and replaced by a figurehead that will follow all of the empire's directives. Including the oppression and enslavement of the gungans, is that what all of you want?" said Master Vos loudly to the crowd.

The crowd became quiet and sombre as they took a moment to think about what they were about to do, and the possible consequences. However Shysanar wasn't going to let go.

"You cannot be serious. We must fight! We must show the galaxy that we are still here, willing to fight this regime and bring peace once more to the galaxy," he loudly proclaimed to the crowd, but no one offered any words or cheers to his declaration.

Master Vos could only shake his head in sadness at the young man's anger. "The war is long since over. The galaxy is exhausted and if we do this now, before the galaxy has properly recovered, we will be seen as nothing more than terrorists by the general public. Right now public support for the empire is at an all-time-high, and the best course of action right now is to lay low and prepare for the right moment to free it from Sith rule."

The crowd seemed unsure of what to do. Both arguments had their merits, but even the Jedi that had come with Shysanar were unsure.

This seemed to just make Shysanar's blood boil. "What are we waiting for? We are supposed to be freeing this planet!"

"From what?" Master Vos asked. "So far all the empire has stationed is a small garrison for planetary defence and currently has done nothing, but stayed out of local matters that are handled by local police and security forces. This is not the Jedi way, and we will accomplish nothing with this attack. Everyone should just go home. We need to evacuate the padawans, knights and masters in hiding here before the empire comes looking for us!" Master Vos concluded.

After a few more looks between themselves the gungans began to disperse and retreated back into the deep swamps while the Jedi came forward, except for Shysanar.

"Where are you going? Come back here!"

"Wesa goin home. The older Jedi is right. We cannot fight the empire now, but wesa know time will prove the Jedi right. I wish you luck, Jedi," the gungan general stated before he disappeared into the jungle.

"Looks like you just lost your support!" Master Vos commented lightly, relieved that the disaster had been averted. "Now come, we have much work to do if we are to leave this planet undetected, and very little time to do it."

"We could have freed this planet if you hadn't interfered!" stated Shysanar heatedly.

"And you would have only held the planet for about a day before the empire came and took this planet back. Let's get back to the enclave!" he ordered, and the four Jedi followed him, with Shysanar following reluctantly.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Theed Palace**

**Guest Wing**

**Several hours later**

All was quiet this night, but there was still an atmosphere of foreboding, as if a great sword was dangling above the palace and everyone in it, and Jack felt it most acutely. He was physically exhausted, but there would be no sleep for him this night as he waited for the sound of explosions, though he hoped that Master Vos would be successful. Both he and his companions had retired to their respective suites to rest, but he knew that both Aayla and Mirialia wouldn't be able to sleep anymore than he did.

He lay there in bed, eyes staring up at the ceiling, hoping that simple exhaustion would allow him the sleep he so desperately wanted and needed, yet no matter what he did, from simply counting sheep to trying a few of Aayla's meditation exercises, nothing seemed to make him go to sleep.

Unbeknownst to him a small mouse droid was watching him from a small air-vent in the wall opposite his bed, its multiple cameras zoomed in and recorded everything then transmitted the recording to its master. It then trundled along to the next suite and discovered his master's secondary targets, took a few pictures, transmitted them and stayed there. Kayla was meditating on the bed in a simple silk bra and panties while Mirialia was pacing the room in her own nightwear, a simple Imperial Navy issue black female's sports bra and panties.

"Have you considered meditation to calm your nerves?" Kayla asked, finally having enough of the anxious human's pacing.

"I don't have the patience for meditation, plus I never seem to have the time," said Mirialia hotly as she continued pacing. "I prefer to exercise before bed, but I can't exactly do that here beyond the basics," she said annoyed as she continued to pace the room.

Kayla merely smiled serenely. "I had much the same trouble in the beginning of my training. I didn't want to just sit around contemplating the Force all day. I wanted adventure, excitement, and all the things a youngster craves. Of course in time I realized that sometimes you need to just sit down and catch your breath let your mind wander and let go of everything, for a little while. I can help you," she offered.

"No thanks," Mirialia rebuffed. "I just can't stop thinking about what might have happened tonight. There are no explosions yet, and the queen told Jack that the attack was going to start two hours from then. It's now been a little over four hours since."

"Then our mission has been accomplished. We have averted a potential disaster here on this planet, we now have a two week vacation, and I noticed that you just called your commanding officer by his first name," she ended mischievously.

"No I didn't," Mirialia quickly denied.

"Oh yes you did!"

"No I did not!" she denied again vehemently.

"Mirialia I heard you say his first name clear as day just seconds ago. There is no use in denying it!" Kayla told the still in denial commander.

"A slip of the tongue, that's all," she tried to excuse.

"Maybe," Kayla acknowledged. "Or maybe it's a small piece of what you truly feel underneath that cold mask of yours escaping out into the light. You're not really a full on lesbian are you?" she asked directly, which made Mirialia stop dead in her tracks.

"What gave you that impression?" she asked surprised.

"Your general attitude towards most men, and that the only few men you've shown respect to is your commanding officer and your old friend Commander Ganto, and if I remember correctly scuttlebutt says that you nearly broke his arm the last time he touched you!"

Mirialia sighed in resignation at her friend's pointers. "It's true that I haven't been with a man in a while, a long while, and I've been seeking comfort from mostly women ever since the incident with Riskovat," she admitted with a slight sneer as she said her rapist's name. "Commodore Hawks is the man who saved my career, and he actually sees me as an equal, unlike some men who see me as just a sex object. Plus he's also an attractive man," she reluctantly acknowledged.

"That he is," said Kayla in complete understanding.

Mirialia's face quickly turned mischievous. "So, have you been with him?"

"What?" Kayla asked in confusion.

"Well, you've spent most of your time pretending to be his body servant. Something must've happened between you two?"

Kayla became slightly nervous at her friend's assumption. "We've never gone that far," she said reluctantly. Mirialia looked at her in disbelief.

"Come on, you just agreed with me that he is an attractive man, plus you've been playing the part of servant for a long time, you sleep practically right next to him!"

"I sleep in the servant's quarters that's joined directly to his stateroom. Sure, I have given him a rub down every once in a while after a very stressful day, but we've not gone any further than some light flirting there, a quick kiss or two here..." she trailed off and Mirialia looked at her twi'lek friend in disbelief.

"And he hasn't jumped you yet?" she asked incredulously.

"He's too noble for his own damned good," Kayla responded ruefully.

"Then he has shown just as much restraint as a Jedi!" Mirialia concluded.

"To both our detriment," Kayla lamented, then suddenly her eyes shot open and snapped towards the door to Jack's room. "He's in trouble!" she quickly stated as she made to get off the bed when suddenly a pair of silvery grenades shot in from an overhead ventilation vent and detonated between the two of them, unleashing a powerful concussive wave that knocked them both out before they could react.

Jack heard the twin explosions of the grenades and pulled out the small holdout blaster he kept under his pillow and scanned the room. He didn't see anything for a moment, but a sudden shattering of the glass balcony doors caught his attention. A small white sphere was lobbed in and Jack instantly recognised it for what it was. A frag grenade!

He quickly dove behind his bed and hoped that it would be enough to protect him from the blast, and barely a second later it went off. A deafening blast and scorching heat washed over his head, but he was still alive. Deafened and dazed he stood up and roughly aimed for the window, thankful that at least his eyes were still in perfect working order, as a duros in a big hat and leather trench-coat flew in on feet mounted jets.

"So, you're still alive. I'll just have to make sure you stay dead, Commodore!" the bounty hunter said, smiling evilly as he drew his pair of customized blasters and aimed.

Jack didn't hear him, but he did recognise the duros before him as Cad Bane and everything seemed to slow down for him. With ingrained reflexes, honed over hours of practice drills with his marines, he aimed and fired his little blaster without hesitation and managed to score a hit on the flying bounty hunters left upper arm which sent him spinning into a wall with an annoyed grunt.

"So, your even tougher than you look," said Bane as he started blasting.

Jack dove once again to the side just before the bounty hunter opened up on him, but was too slow this time as a blaster bolt hit him in his left leg. Red hot pain shot up his leg as he returned fire, which threw off his aim and missed his target, Bane's head, but instead hit the main light fixture, blacking out the room for a few precious seconds as Jack scrambled to find some sort of cover, and found some behind an overturned table. Soon enough both parties eyes adjusted to the darkness, the only source of light being the moonlight that filtered in through the short gaps in the drapes.

"I enjoy a good hunt as the next bounty hunter, but you are definitely making me work for my money, unlike the two lovely ladies in the next room. I might just have a little fun with them before handing them over to my employer," he said with an evil grin.

Jack's hearing had recovered enough to hear that last part and his blood boiled. His hand tightened around his holdout blaster's grip, then he calmed himself as he checked his blaster's energy level. Enough for another couple of full powered blasts. He heard the bounty hunters jets roar to life as Bane took flight again, setting himself up to attack from above. Jack quickly rolled away from the table, just as Bane started shooting again, and Jack fired his two last shots, hitting centre of mass and Bane came crashing back down to the floor and rolled through the broken glass of the balcony doors.

Jack ran to get his own DC-17 blaster, before the bounty hunter could get up, but before they could continue their fight a squad of Naboo security guards barged into his suite with blasters at the ready and scanning for targets.

"There's an assassin outside on the balcony, shoot him!" Jack ordered shortly and immediately the guards opened up on Bane. Seeing his chance slip away the bounty hunter slipped over the balcony railing and fell a metre before activating his jets and sped off to safety, growling at himself at his failure. Jack and the guards ran onto the balcony and continued shooting at him, but he was long gone.

As the action ended and he began to come down from his adrenaline high Jack felt every little bit of pain from his wounds and began to collapse, only to be caught by a pair of guards.

"Relax sir, we've got you and medics are on the way," said one of the guards.

"Would you mind checking on my companions?" Jack asked and the guard quickly directed two of his fellows to do so, while the two guards holding him upright moved him away from the room and into the hallway where they laid him down.

The pain from his wounded leg threatened to make him black out, but he gritted his teeth and stayed conscious. One of the guards quickly returned. "They are both fine sir, the gas grenade just knocked them out."

Relief flooded through Jack's mind, now that he knew that Kayla and Mirialia were safe he drifted off onto unconsciousness.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

**Theed Spaceport**

Cad Bane barely managed to get to his own personal starfighter, a modified Rogue-class fighter, before Naboo security could apprehend him. He mentally patted himself on the shoulder for his preparedness as he could still feel the intense heat of the two blaster bolts that had hit him square in the chest, luckily he wore armour-weave underneath his clothing, otherwise he'd be a dead man. He quickly ignited his fighter's engines and blasted off out of the hangar and straight up and out of the atmosphere.

He growled in annoyance as a pair of N1-Starfighters caught up with him just as he exited the atmosphere, and there was an Imperial warship in orbit that he had to get past. He tried to alter his heading and increase speed, but the N1s were still hanging on to his tail with green laser canon fire blasting through space, scoring a number of hits to his shields and forced him into a roll, which just so happened to bring him back on course towards the Imperial warship. He could now make out some details on the vessel blocking his path. It was a Tector class Star Destroyer, a flying weapons platform optimised for bashing other warships into submission.

_So, you are forcing me towards an Imperial warship with little point defence weaponry. Fine! I'll take your bait, _he thought to himself as he pushed his fighters engines to the maximum as he set his computers to calculate a hyperspace jump to one of his many hideouts in the Outer Rim. He put his fighter on a highly erratic course and set his ECM generators to maximum as he approached the warship which was coming closer. He noted the alarms that alerted him that it was trying to lock him down with a tractor beam, but so far all they were getting was stray particles. He savagely grinned as he closed in, but noted that the two N1s following him had fallen behind and were maintaining a steady one and a half kilometre distance. He was then surprised as more alarms from his threat indicators went crazy, and checked his scopes.

His eyes widened in surprise and horror as he saw the incoming shells and massed laser cannon fire come straight at him. He put his fighter into a tight corkscrew and avoided the majority of the incoming fire and focused all of his deflector shields forward. His fighter was jolted by multiple laser canon hits and energy pulses from the exploding shells all around him. He pushed his fighter's engines past the red line and continued to accelerate, aiming to get below the massive warship in front of him.

What to him felt like hours took only seconds in real time as he managed to corkscrew his way through the relentless barrage, hug the ventral hull of the Tector and passed right by it. A simple beep told him that the hyperdrive was ready and he pulled the activation lever, jumping the ship into hyperspace and frustrated his hunters.

He let out an expansive sigh as he felt relief that it was over, for the moment. He began looking through his pockets, then got worried as he checked his right breast pocket of his armour-weave shirt. He quickly saw the data-disk he had stored the commodore's conversation with the Jedi had been burned to a crisp by a lucky shot from that same commodore's holdout blaster. An almost indescribable rage came over him as he crushed the remains of the disk, then calmed down.

"Alright, you got lucky this time, Commodore Jack Hawks, but next time you won't be so lucky," he vowed as he began to plan his next attempt.

**(((((((((((((((The Dark Times)))))))))))))))**

AN: That's another chapter completed. Thoughts and comments are very much appreciated, most especially constructive criticism.


	12. Downfall of a Queen

**The Dark Times**

**Chapter 12: Downfall of a Queen**

**Naboo, Theed Palace**

**Medical Wing**

The night of the assassination attempt Commodore Hawks and his two companions had been quickly moved to the medical wing of the palace. Both Commander Hess and his indentured servant had both only suffered the effects of a pair of stun grenades, but the commodore's injuries needed extensive treatment. He had a number of cuts and bruises from the detonation of the frag grenade only metres away from him, and the only protection he had at the time was a formerly luxurious bed, which was now damaged beyond repair. He also had a nasty blaster wound in his left leg, just above the knee, which required a very intense treatment of bacta wraps and a short surgery to repair damage to the nerves and veins.

It was now midday and the sun was shining high in the sky through the narrow window, and Jack was stirring. He could feel a small weight on both his right and left arms and was surprised to see the chocolate-brown hair of his XO and the blue skin of his 'indenture servant' sleepily resting their heads close to his hands and holding on to them while sitting in appropriated chairs.

He took a deep breath and move a little, which instantly roused both of his companions. Both seemed overjoyed to see him awake, and Kayla quickly embraced him in the tightest hug she could muster. "I'm so glad that your ok, master," she said emphatically, as Jack now noticed the very revealing outfit she was wearing. A very sheer silk dress that hugged her curves and extra snug around her bust, which was currently smashed up against his own bare chest. Mirialia on the other hand wore her normal grey duty uniform.

"I'm glad to see you both alive, but Kayla you may want to let go please, I can't breathe!" said a thoroughly embarrassed and close to passing out Commodore Hawks.

Immediately Kayla let go with an embarrassed dark blue blush. "Sorry master!"

"And why are you calling me 'master'?" he asked quietly.

"Just keeping up appearances for the audience," she answered quietly as she nodded her head towards the other patients and nurses in the Medical Wing, and Jack nodded in understanding.

"So, what happened to the two of you?" he asked of them both.

This time Mirialia answered. "Bane put a mouse droid in the vent armed with a miniature grenade launcher. It lobbed a pair of stun grenades at the two of us and knocked us out. You suffered far more severe injuries!"

"I remember," he winced in remembrance. "What about Bane?"

"Unfortunately the slippery bastard got past us," said Captain Willem Bush who was standing in the entrance to the Medical Wing and was now walking in. "His fighter was equipped with some impressive ECM and EW capabilities which confounded my ship's targeting scanners, plus some impressive deflector shields for a starfighter," he continued with grudging respect.

"Did you manage to plot his exact course?" Commodore Hawks asked.

"No, he went by so fast we barely managed to identify his fighter," Captain Bush answered. "Who do you think sent the bounty hunter after you?"

Jack took a moment to think. "I believe it was our old friend Csalas. Among all the enemies I've made over the last few years, both during the Clone Wars and after, he's the only one who has both a strong enough motive and the monetary resources to hire such a bounty hunter. Mirialia, I think it's time we put out some feelers for some bounty hunters of our own. Contact Commander Macintyre, he should have a pretty good idea of which bounty hunters to use."

"Will do sir," Mirialia replied as she produced a pad and pen and made a note of Jack's suggestion. "But sir, I think that you are forgetting the Hutts. Csalas isn't the only one we've pissed off over the last couple of years."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Good point. So, Captain Bush, how is the _Retribution_?"

"My chief engineer is working up a gripe sheet, but so far the work your father's shipyard has done has been exemplary. Aside from the inexperience my crew has with the new systems everything is on schedule."

"Very good, Captain. Now I think you should return to your ship. I'm supposed to be on vacation, remember?"

"Aye sir," the captain saluted and headed out of the medical wing. Just before he exited the medical wing the queen came in, and the captain bowed low in respect. "Your majesty."

"Captain," the queen acknowledged as she approached the commodore's bed. "Well, well, it seems that even on peaceful Naboo you bring trouble," the young queen quipped.

"I apologise for the damage me and the bounty hunter caused. I'm more than willing to pay for the cost of repairing the room," said Jack, to the bemusement of the queen.

"On a Commodore's salary? Not very likely!" For a moment she just stood there and looked at the three of them. "My intention here is not to berate you, nor is it to make you pay for the damages for something that was clearly not your fault."

"You are most kind, your majesty."

"I would like to offer you the use of one of the many villas in the Lake Country for your little vacation. It's very private, offers a marvellous view of the lakes and the locals are very friendly," she offered. "It's also an excellent place for healing."

The meaning behind the offer was obvious to the two Imperial officers and twi'lek 'indentured servant.' "The offer is very much appreciated and accepted," said Jack with a slight bow of his head, or as good as he managed in his state, while his companions bowed low.

"Very good. I'll probably be seeing you there by the end of the week. Even queens need vacations from time to time," said the queen as she made a graceful exit.

After the queen left Mirialia and Kayla gave Jack a very accusatory look.

"What?" he asked innocently.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Outer Rim**

**Former Asteroid Mine**

In an almost forgotten system in the Far Outer Rim on a long forgotten asteroid mining station, completely drained of all valuable materials and later abandoned now served as the notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane's latest hideout. He was in a most surly of moods and knew that his employers didn't accept failure easily. He was not looking forward to having this conversation with his employer, but he needed to know.

With great reluctance he activated his holo-net transceiver array and routed his call through multiple locations to obscure the origins of his signal, and piggybacked his own tracking software into his own outgoing signal, knowing where his employer is, is always a good policy when you want to get paid.

Soon enough the handsome face of Arulo Csalas, twisted slightly by a scowl, appeared on the holo-monitor. _"So, is Hawks dead yet?"_

"Not yet. For a sailor, Commodore Hawks is a surprisingly difficult man to kill, plus Royal Naboo security showed up at the worst possible time," said Bane, careful to keep his voice even.

_"I assume you have a backup plan?"_ Csalas said menacingly and continued, _"You know the price for failure!"_

"I know, but right now it'll be most difficult to get at him, at least until he has recovered from his injuries."

_"Injuries?"_

"I managed to almost completely destroy his room with a frag grenade and I shot him a couple of times, but like I said, the man is difficult to kill, but not impossible!"

_"Then I suggest you get back to work, and don't call me again with failure,"_ said Csalas as he moved to cut the transmission.

"Oh, reporting my failure was not the only reason I called you. I have some information that you might find interesting," said Bane with a small smile.

_"What kind of information?"_ suspicion laced the pirate's tone.

"Oh, this information doesn't come for free. You paid me to kill him. Not to spy on him!"

Csalas' scowl worsened. _"What's your fee?"_

"Well, considering the value of the information I'd be willing to let it go for fifteen thousand credits," said Bane, his teeth showing through his greedy smile and Csalas nearly turned apoplectic with rage.

_"That is an outrageous demand! How can I know that the information is good?"_

"Oh, you've got my personal guarantee, and you know my reputation!"

_"I'm willing to pay perhaps seventy five hundred, but first I need a small taste of what you have!"_

"Oh, let's just say it involves Jedi," said Bane smugly. "I'm willing to part with the information for ten thousand.

_"You have my attention, bounty hunter. Make it nine and we have a deal!"_

"Ten!" Bane boldly stated, and watched as Csalas mulled it over.

_"Fine, ten thousand credits,"_ he agreed and off-screen he began inputting commands into a nearby console. Bane looked over to a nearby monitor which displayed his credit balance.

"I overheard the Commodore speaking to a Jedi I tangled with in the past, Master Quinlan Vos. They were discussing something about stopping some rogue Jedi from making some mistake. During that same conversation I also learned that his little twi'lek servant is actually a Jedi in disguise," said Bane to dumbstruck Csalas, who quickly became calculating.

_"I assume you recorded these conversations?"_

"I did, but the data cards I stored them on were destroyed in the fire-fight. A pleasure doing business with you," said Bane with a tip of his hat, and cut transmission at the same time, relishing the final look of rage Csalas had as the hologram winked off.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Outer-Rim**

**Poison Nightmare**

**Csalas' private chambers**

Csalas snarled with barely contained rage as he watched the smug grin of Cad Bane disappear from the holo-viewer.

_"Why do you put up with that blue-skinned devil?"_ asked one of his allies from another holo-monitor, an imperial navy officer in the same fleet as Commodore Hawks.

"Because, despite his failure, he is still the best bounty hunter money can buy in this galaxy. Wave enough credits in front of his eyes and he'll ask no questions and do his job. That does give him some wiggle room, but only so much before I pull the cord on the noose tight!"

_"Just remember that you owe me for giving you the transport schedules and the patrol schedules for most of Admiral Rod's fleet,"_ the imperial reminded.

"It was because of you that I lost so many of my forces in that engagement with the _Challenger_ battle group, you didn't tell me about the upgrades done to his ships!"

_"I thought they were inconsequential, besides it was mostly lighter warships he was reinforced with, most of them merely escorts and pre-Clone Wars designs!"_ the imperial countered. _"However you'll be happy to know that soon we will have an ally of our own onboard the _Challenger_."_

"An ally? What kind of ally?" Csalas asked intrigued.

_"The kind that is beyond reproach and is untouchable to both Admiral Rod and Commodore Hawks, plus he also has an interest in the Commodore's XO,"_ the imperial stated with a small sick grin, which was mirrored by Csalas.

"Commodore Delmar, you my friend have a very twisted mind, for an imperial," said Csalas as he raised a wine glass in salute to the traitorous imperial.

_"To the downfall of Commodore Hawks, and taking his most prized possessions!"_ said Delmar as he raised his own glass in salute and the two drank deeply of their respective drinks. Unbeknownst to them a certain bounty hunter was listening to everything they were saying and planning an insurance policy, in case his employer decided to stab him in the back.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Lake Country**

**Three days later**

For the first time in over six months Mirialia was relaxing. Being cooped up on a warship for that long tended to make her go stir crazy after a while, even with the massive opportunities for amusement her rank gave her. She was resting on a small beach towel with a simple black string bikini which left nothing to the imagination, basking in the warm sunshine. Not far away Commodore Hawks was sitting on his own beach towel in simple black shorts with a red dotted stripe going along his left shorts leg, an image of the Corellian Blood Stripe he carries on all his uniforms left pants legs, and a white exercise shirt. His leg was still bandaged in bacta wraps, but it wouldn't be long now before he could enjoy swimming in the lake.

Mirialia could not help notice his well toned physique, a rarity among most flag officers who let themselves go once they get beyond the rank of captain, and remembered that he was still young, only five years older than her own 32 years. The faint splashing of water that sounded from the lake brought her attention to Kayla swimming, who was sporting the same sort of bikini as she was, only a pale, almost see-through white.

"Come on in Mirialia, the water is just perfect," Kayla called out as she lazily tread water, flashing a brilliant smile.

"No thanks, I'll just sit here and bask in the sun," Mirialia said back as she reclined onto her back and closed her eyes.

"Come on, it's not any fun swimming alone, besides I won't stop asking you until you jump in with me," said Kayla in a sing-song tone of voice, which made Mirialia huff in resignation.

"Fine, I'm coming in," she stated as she stood up from her beach towel and jogged into the water. As Kayla said the water was the perfect temperature and she gleefully dove in and submerged herself for a few moments then came up for air and shook the water out of her eyes. As the water cleared Kayla was nowhere to be seen. "Kayla where are you?" she called out as she spun around and treaded water, then dove underwater again, but there was no sign of her.

In the woods not far from the beach a pair of eyes watched both the Commodore resting on the beach and his XO swimming in the lake. He was confused for a moment as the XO began calling out for the Commodore's body servant, until he felt the cold steel barrel of a blaster poking into his neck.

"What's this, a Jedi Knight caught off his guard?" said a woman with an exotic lilt to her voice, identifying her as a twi'lek from Ryloth, and the same Jedi he was hoping to see.

"Master Secura, I was hoping to see you again," he replied as his hand surreptitiously went to his belt where his lightsabre was clipped to.

"Have we met before?" she asked then quickly noticed his body language. "I suggest you stay your hand, young man, before I accidentally blast your head off!"

He instantly froze, then calmly moved his hand away. "Don't you recognize me Master? You helped me with my lightsabre forms back when I was still a youngling," he asked as he turned around fully, with his arms raised, and Aayla instantly recognized him.

"Finn Shysanar, I remember you now! Still having trouble with that temper of yours?" she asked sweetly. "Get up, put your hands on your head and interlock your fingers! Me and Jack have some questions to ask you," she continued sternly and gestured with her small blaster. Finn scowled at her, but did as he was told.

It was a surprised Mirialia that came out of the water and saw Kayla come out of the woods with a young man and poking a blaster into his neck. "Who's your new friend Kayla?" she asked.

"Kayla? Why are they not calling you by your proper name and title, Master Secura?" Shysanar asked both annoyed and confused.

"Because she is in hiding, youngster, and her name now is Kayla Macula and my body-servant. You had best remember that!" said Jack as he stood up from his lounge chair, still a little unsteady.

"You mean your slave!" the young Jedi venomously stated. "Is this what the great Master Secura has been reduced to? A mere slave to the whims of an Imperial flag officer?"

Jack's eyes narrowed in anger at the young man's spiteful comments, but before he could say or do anything Kayla snapped. "Shysanar you know nothing!" she stated before she pulled her blaster back and in her short bout of anger pistol whipped him in the back of the head, surprising both the young Jedi and the two navy officers who had known her for over a year.

With rage still blazing in her eyes and the blaster still in her hand Jack moved forward and quickly relieved her of the weapon. "Easy Kayla," he said soothingly as he took the blaster from her and pointed it at the young Jedi. "As you can see she is still working through the pain of loss. I suggest you keep such notions and thoughts to yourself!" he said sternly to the younger man. "Now, you are going to answer some questions. The first being why were you spying on us?"

All he got in answer was a defiant look from his captive.

"Fine, then let me make an educated guess. You came here for answers, didn't you? You wanted to know what sort of person would be willing to order a ship in orbit to rain down fire on a loyal Imperial world." Again, only a defiant stare was his answer, but his left eye twitched, almost unnoticeably. _Seems I struck a nerve with that one._ "You obviously came here alone, otherwise I doubt that Kayla here would have been able to capture you so easily. You're not here with the permission nor the knowledge of your compatriots, so this is a personal mission for you. What was your plan? Hm? Observe us for a while and then try to slit my Imperial throat?"

"No, I just wanted to assess you, see what sort of threat you represent to us!" the young Jedi stated with barely contained anger. For a short moment, though Jack thought it was the trick of the light, his eyes flashed with a sickly yellow sheen. Aayla's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but thought no more of it as she felt another's presence. A very familiar one.

"So, this is where you ran off to, young Shysanar!" said the recently arrived Master Vos. "I thought I told you to stay at the enclave, and that I would be taking care of this!"

"You were too close to this, besides I did not believe that you would do what is necessary," said Shysanar bitingly. "We should be doing more, we cannot just hide and do nothing!"

"And do what exactly?" Hawks asked. "Right now the Empire is riding a wave of popularity, and anything you do, like your attempt a few days ago to incite a gungan attack on the local Imperial garrison, would be quickly labelled as a terrorist attack!"

"It's better to be doing something rather than sitting on our hands!" Shysanar shot back.

"Return to the enclave Knight Shysanar, immediately!" Master Vos sternly ordered.

"Yes Master," said Shysanar and left.

Kayla's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "He used to be a fine Jedi before the war. Now all I sense is a deep seeded hatred within him. I remember that he always had a temper, but this is different. Much like you when you had your brush with the dark side, Master."

"Yeah, he is a very troubled young man," said Master Vos. His tone was calm, but there was still an undercurrent of worry.

"Is he going to be a problem?" Hawks asked.

"It's a possibility. We'll keep an eye on him," Vos said reassuringly, though Hawks was still sceptical.

In the villa not far from the beach a pair of dark green skinned female mirialans wearing servants dresses with purple hair, one braided into a pair of circular buns the other wore her hair loosely, watched the proceedings on the beach. Both were watching intensely and heard everything that was said. As one they frowned.

"I'll follow the Jedi back to their enclave, you stay here," said the one wearing her hair loosely.

"No, you stay, I'll follow him!" the braided one countered.

The first one shook her head. "No you're the respectable sister, I'm the rebellious one, remember? Besides I doubt you want to ruin that pretty dress of yours!"

"We're both wearing dresses," the braided one countered.

"Of the two of us I'm the best at Force Stealth," the first one parried and demonstrated by disappearing from view, though her sister could still sense her presence.

The braided one relented."Fine! I'll stay here and cover for you, but I suggest you change first!"

"Already got that covered," the first one said with a smile.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Deep Forest**

Knight Shysanar was barely containing his fury as he trudged back to the hidden Jedi enclave. All of his emotions were broadcasting for anyone with even a hint of Force sensitivity could pick up on for almost a mile, which made him ridiculously easy to track for his shadow. He on the other hand couldn't sense that he was being followed at all, and even if his senses weren't clogged with his own emotional baggage he still wouldn't have sensed her. To Neela's continued exasperation and mirth.

Soon enough he came to an ancient Jedi temple, hidden and forgotten by almost everybody, including the Jedi Order, except for a few Jedi Masters who had managed to save a small part of the Jedi archives during the attack on the Jedi Temple. For the last year and a half a small number of Jedi Masters had managed to bring the few younglings saved from the Jedi Temple as well as a few saved Jedi Knights from the front lines.

Neela knew this temple well, having infiltrated it quite a number of times since the Jedi exiles had taken up residence there, and quickly went ahead of the enraged Jedi Knight to the central chamber, which now functioned as a makeshift council chamber. Inside a trio of Jedi Masters were waiting for their young charge. A female Mon Calamari with silvery blue skin and wearing blue-grey robes, a dark skinned human male in cream and brown and a tall togruta female who wore brown ceremonial robes and had rusty red skin with white facial markings and strips of blue along her long montrals.

Coming into the council chamber Knight Shysanar had schooled his features to a calm mask, but keen Jedi senses and body language experts could see that he was still seething below the surface.

"Welcome Knight Shysanar. I see you came back no worse for wear," the togruta said as she stood up from her seat to speak and to take note of his injury.

"Nothing more than a small head wound, Master Shak Ti," said Shysanar neutrally.

"You still left the enclave without permission. You must understand that while this world may be a refuge for us, it is only a temporary one. The empire only needs to hear a whisper of a rumour that we are here and he would not hesitate to send Vader and his Fist to come crashing down upon this world," said the human Master.

"I disagree Master Qu Rahn. We must do something to rid the galaxy of this Sith Lord that used the Dark Side to cloud our vision and now has the galaxy in a vice!" stated Shysanar vehemently, and the three masters could only shake their heads in sadness.

"We are no longer an Order of tens of thousands, Knight Shysanar. We are now reduced to refugees in a galaxy that now despises us. We must remain hidden for now, until the galaxy has had a time to recover and lull the Emperor into a false sense of security!" the Mon Calamari Master countered. "Go and meditate on this. Clear your mind and come back only when your emotions have properly been reined in!"

"I am not some youngling to be ordered around, Master Bant Eerin!" Shysanar stated with barely contained rage.

At that moment Master Vos came back. "Really? By the tone in your voice I'd say you were barely past infancy. You should take some time to relax! Uncontrolled rage is very difficult for us to keep from leaking out into the Force. If we didn't actively shield this place the Emperor and Vader would have come down on us like a pack of Kath hounds after a juicy steak, and it's not just you and us few masters here, we also have a number of scared younglings we're trying to protect. Didn't you think of them at all?"

Shysanar's rage diminished as he finally got his anger under control, remembering the younglings he had helped rescue from the Jedi Temple. "I will do as you suggested, Masters," he said as he left the council chamber and headed for his private quarters, feeling more guilt than anger now.

From an oval opening in the domed ceiling of the council chamber Neela watched the young Knight and the Masters argue. This wasn't the first time she had seen the Masters having to rein in one of their younger Knights, and it was getting harder for them to shield themselves from detection. Naboo didn't have as big a Force signature to hide in as some other planets she knew of, Felucia being the one that came to mind the most. She settled in for a long sit as she listened in to the Masters conversation.

"It is getting more difficult every day to shield the strong emotions that come from both the younglings and the more temperamental of the Knights, young Finn Shysanar being a prime example!" said Master Ti, one of the last Jedi Council Members alive.

"I know," agreed Master Vos. "I believe we should accelerate our plans to remove ourselves from this planet to the next safe-house. It may not be long the Empire begins to suspect Queen Apailana is sheltering us." There was agreement among the other Masters

"I agree, but Shysanar does have a point. We can't keep running and hiding forever," said Master Rahn.

"But we don't have a choice. There are far too few of us and we are being hunted by almost everyone, from the Emperor's agents to bounty hunters," said Master Eerin.

Master Vos nodded his head sadly and Neela couldn't help but feel sorry for these Jedi. She wanted to help, but her orders were final. Observation only until the leaders back home decided upon a course of action.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Theed**

**Two days later**

It was a clear and starry night in Theed and everyone but a few Royal guards were tucked away in their beds, not knowing that visitors with hostile intent were coming this evening. A trio of black MAAT\i transports landed near silently on three nearby rooftops that overlooked the Theed Palace plaza and deposited twelve black armoured troops each. They wore armour similar to Republic Commandoes, but there were a number of differences. Their helmets did not have the distinctive blue-glowing T-eye slit and the armour itself was less bulky. Instead they had a pair of thin red glowing eye-slits and their armour had no distinct markings, nothing to signify what part of the Imperial war machine these troops belonged to.

Following the provided maps they moved quickly and silently through the night towards their designated targets, namely the auto-turret grid control stations. There were nine such stations and they all had to be taken out near simultaneously before the Empire could come in and forcibly remove Queen Apailana and have her replaced. None of the troopers cared about why they were doing this. They had been intensely trained and indoctrinated to do the hardest and most difficult missions for the glory of the Empire.

The three twelve-man squads split up into four-man fire-teams and continued on to their targets, moving silently through the streets and across roof tops, using small jet packs to jump from roof top to roof top and to slow their descent towards the ground. In minutes all nine of the fire-teams arrived at their targets. Each control station was manned normally by a small group of three Royal Guardsmen. That night the lives of twenty seven guardsmen were about to be cut short.

The leader of the insertion, an Imperial Clone Commando attached to the 501st, stood just outside the control room and radioed his fellows. "All units, green light?" Immediately nine small green icons flashed on in his helmet's HUD, exactly according to plan. "All units, execute!" Instantly they moved into action. One Commando worked the door panel and the rest stormed in, silenced DC-17ms shot red blaster fire into three very surprised guardsmen who had no time to react. All three were shot in the head between the eyes, forever fixing the look of surprised horror upon their faces and were dead before they hit the ground.

They quickly set to work on the controls and shut down the auto-turret grid, then the team's slicer uploaded a virus into the system to make sure it would be down for a long time. As soon as it was uploaded and confirmed to affect the system the leader once again activated his transmitter. "The castle gate is down. Bring in the Fist!"

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo orbit**

**INS Retribution**

All was quiet on the command bridge of the _INS Retribution_. It was currently the graveyard shift, only three hours before 1st shift began its rotation. As the ship completed another parking orbit there was something in a lower orbit that wasn't there only thirty minutes ago. A CR-25 transport, with three of its four docking racks empty, the last rack had a MAAT/i gunship docked to it. Both the ship and the gunship had no identifying markers, except for a black paint job.

The officer of the watch knew almost immediately he was out of his depth and called the captain to the bridge. Soon enough the ginger haired middle aged form of Captain Willem Bush came upon the command deck, his annoyance at having been woken up clear for everyone to see, but he was professional enough to merely bark out, "Report!"

"We detected a CR-25 Imperial transport on our last orbit of the planet," the officer reported as he brought a sensor profile of the ship in question. "It wasn't there on the last orbit, and it has no identifying markers, worse three of its four MAAT/is have been launched."

The captain's eyes instantly became alert as he remembered who used such craft. "Did you use active scanners to get this information?"

"No sir, all data was gathered with passive scans only. You know how those spec-ops guys react to curious navy-men," said the officer to the relief of the captain.

"Good. Communications open up a channel to the Commodore's mansion. I don't like how this smells," said the captain, when suddenly an Imperial-class Star Destroyer came out of hyperspace not far from the planet.

"Identify that ship immediately!" he ordered, and several crewmen worked frantically to provide their captain the answer.

"It's the _INS Exactor_."

The captain's blood ran cold. The _Exactor_ is Darth Vader's flagship and home to a legion of 501st Clone Troopers.

"The _Exactor_ is hailing us." The captain visibly composed himself, then nodded to the communications specialist.

Immediately a life-size hologram materialized in front of him, displaying Lord Vader in all his terrifying glory, and the captain bowed in respect.

"_Captain Bush, explain your reason for being here!"_ the dark lord demanded in his deep baritone voice which radiated malice.

"We were here for shore-leave after my ship's shakedown run, as well as to transport Commodore Hawks to the Festival of Lights on Naboo. He was also sent here on an enforced shore-leave. Do you require our assistance?" the captain offered.

"_All shore-leave is cancelled. You will recall Commodore Hawks immediately from the planet and then initiate a temporary planetary blockade!"_ Lord Vader ordered and Captain Bush bowed once again. "As you wish, my lord!" Seconds later the hologram winked out and the captain breathed a near silent sigh of relief.

"Have you managed to get in touch with Commodore Hawks?" he asked.

"Yes sir, he's just waiting for you, I'll put him on," the communications specialist responded and the holo-projectors came to life again, this time showing the strangely comforting view of Commodore Hawks.

"_I assume this call is about the arrival of Darth Vader and his Fist?"_ the Commodore asked to the surprise of everyone onboard.

"How did you know?" Captain Bush asked in surprise, while the rest of the crew's collective jaws metaphorically dropped to the deck.

"_A couple of little birds told me. Send down a shuttle for me and my companions ASAP and put the ship into a position that blockades a direct escape from the capital!"_ the Commodore ordered shortly.

"A shuttle is already on its way down and Lord Vader has already ordered us to assist in blockading the planet," the captain reiterated.

"_Then you have your orders. I'll be waiting for that shuttle!"_ the Commodore concluded and cut transmission.

"You heard them people, recall all crewmembers from the planet and get us into a blockade position above the Naboo capital. Action stations, now," the captain barked out to his crew and the action stations claxon began blaring throughout the ship and roused the entire sleepy crew from their bunks and into their uniforms.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Lake Country**

**Beachside Mansion, minutes earlier**

Jack and his body servant were enjoying a quiet restful sleep when suddenly Kayla stirred awake with a start as she sensed something foreboding approach. Her movement also awakened Jack from his slumber and immediately became worried as he saw the look upon Kayla's face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"He's coming," she answered in a slight panic.

"Do not worry, Master Secura. Darth Vader is not coming for you!" said a young woman's voice from the entrance to the bedroom, and Jack instinctively pulled the covers to himself a little tighter and began to reach under his pillow.

"Looking for this?" said the voice, revealing herself to be one of the servant girls, Leena, who was twirling the little holdout blaster around her left hand, and Jack's instincts were screaming at him to be on guard.

"Do not worry, Commodore Hawks. I'm not here to kill you today. I'm only a humble messenger with a warning, though I can see that you've already received one," said Leena.

"Who are you, exactly?" Jack asked pointedly.

"I'm from a hidden society that resides in the Outer Rim. No more am I allowed to tell you about where I come from," she replied with a tone that brokered no argument.

"I must warn the others," said Kayla as she made to get out of bed.

"No need. My 'colleague' has already warned them, and they are preparing to escape this planet. Most of the Jedi will survive, there is nothing that you can do for them."

At that moment a chime from the holo-comm. sounded in the other room and Jack moved to answer it, quickly grabbing his clothes on the way. As soon as they were alone Leena moved forward towards Kayla. "I also have a message for you, and only for you!" she told Kayla who simply sat on the bed with only a simple sheer night gown which left nothing to the imagination.

"I am listening."

"It is time for you to leave Hawks' side. He cannot protect you any longer. Darth Vader already senses a number of strong Force signatures on this world, except for mine, my colleague's and your own. The only reason he can't sense yours is because you have subconsciously hidden yours in your attempt to stay hidden from prying eyes, but someone like Darth Vader will recognize you for what you are the moment he steps into the room. You already know where you have to go, but only you can decide whether or not you are going!"

Kayla nodded her head. "I understand." She turned towards the young mirialan and smiled. "Let Nyx know that I am coming."

"She already knows, just don't wait too long to leave," said Leena as she began to leave the room, then the air seemed to shimmer and she disappeared from view, both from her Jedi senses and eyes, surprising Kayla and Jack as he caught the tail-end of their conversation, and once more his guard was up.

_But this is not the time for such conversations,_ he thought to himself as he re-entered the bedroom fully. "Get dressed Kayla, a shuttle is coming down for us. I'll go wake up Mirialia!" he told her as he quickly left her to get dressed. Conflicted thoughts went through his mind as he thought of the possibility of Kayla, no, her true name was Aayla, and she is a Jedi, hunted by everyone and he understood, intellectually, that he could not hide her forever, but the thought of losing her was not one he enjoyed contemplating.

He banished such thoughts just before he came to Mirialia's room. He knocked twice on her door, but no answer came, so he knocked again and yet still no answer. "Come on Mirialia, wake up!" he called out to her through the door, but she still did not answer, so he turned the door knob and went in. "Damn it all Commander Hess we haven't got all..." What he found shocked him to the core.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to lose your patience," she said teasingly from her bed in her lacy black lingerie with an even more teasing smile. "See something you like?"

That last statement jolted him out of his momentary shock at seeing his most trusted of officers and closest female friend in such an enticing outfit. "Nice outfit Mirialia, but we don't have time for such games. Lord Vader has come to this planet and we are needed in orbit. Captain Bush has already sent a shuttle for us so get your uniform on!" he said quickly and Mirialia's attitude turned from teasing to all business.

"Aye sir," she answered, disappointed that there wasn't enough time, but at least the thought of her as a woman was properly planted and fertilized within his mind. As he took his leave she quickly got her uniform on and focused her mind to the future tasks ahead. In afterthought she couldn't help but smile and say mentally, _Thank you for both your advice and your friendship Aayla._

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Theed Palace**

**Grand Central Plaza**

The night time peace was rudely interrupted by the sound of gunship engines coming in to land. Multiple squads of Stormtroopers, all Jango clones, disembarked from their gunship transports, along with a few light hover tanks for support carried in by MAAT/is and LAAT/cs which were near instantly noticed by the Royal Guards, but surprise turned to terror as they noticed that the city's auto-turret grid was not engaging the enemy. The guards on duty noticed that there weren't enough troops to hold the city, but it was enough to effectively occupy the palace for a while and destroy the Royal Guards garrison. Immediately they began to send out distress calls, but no one would answer. All communications were being jammed.

Near the queen's bedchambers a quartet of alert Jedi, three men and one woman, disguised as Royal Guards, stood vigil. This was their way of repaying the queen for her kindness, though it was something that the Knight in charge of the detail usually silently fumed at, but tonight he had a feeling that he was finally going to serve his purpose.

"You can all sense that, can't you?" he asked of his fellow Jedi and they all nodded.

"What are we going to do Shysanar?" one of the younger Knights asked.

"Our duty, which is to protect the queen!" Shysanar answered as a guard came running towards them.

Near out of breath and almost in hysterics he said in rapid fashion, "I must speak with her highness!"

"Slow down guardsman and tell us what's happening!" Shysanar said commandingly, adding a little Force persuasion behind the command.

"The Empire has invaded Theed and have knocked out the auto turret grid. I was sent here to warn you and evacuate the queen," said the guardsman more calmly.

"Don't worry about it, we'll take care of her highness," said the young female Jedi. "You'd better get back to the front, the rest of the palace guards are going to need you."

"Yes ma'am," the guardsman said with a salute then trotted back outside.

"I'll inform her highness and get her ready," the female Jedi said as she opened the door, only to see the queen already awake and staring out one of the expansive windows that overlooked the plaza, still dressed in her night wear, a white silk shift, with her hair loose.

"Just a week ago this place was a scene of celebration, with fireworks shooting up into a clear night sky. Now it is a battleground! Tell me, Master Jedi, why is this happening?" the queen asked as she turned away from the scene with a near emotionless voice, but the hurt could be seen in her eyes.

"I cannot answer that your highness, but for your sake, as well as that of your people, you must flee!" said the female Jedi as she opened up the queen's wardrobe and pulled out one of her more utilitarian outfits.

"Jessie will I ever be able to come back?" the queen asked and Jessie could only stop for a moment and shake her head. "Thought so!"

Precious minutes later the two of them emerged from the queen's bedchamber and the four Jedi and one queen began running along the corridors.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Lake Country**

**Ancient Jedi Temple**

In the hangar underneath the ancient temple it was controlled chaos as droids and Jedi moved quickly to load younglings and material onto the escape ships. Master Shaak Ti had spent the last few minutes getting the few possessions and supplies she needed for both her and her new apprentice onto a YT-1210 light freighter, along with a couple of other young Knights. She, along with the other two Jedi Masters, had at first been sceptical of the warning from the spy, but confirmation soon came when they all felt the presence of Darth Vader, and the message they received from the Royal Palace.

The escape plan had been set up as soon as they had arrived, and the hangar was filled with various cargo ships, mostly older model YT-series light freighters, which were now leaving one by one through the hangar doors. She checked in with her charges one last time before they launched.

"Ready back there," she called through the intercom.

"_Cory here, I'm strapped into my gun turret and ready for anything,"_ said a young woman's voice.

"_Same here, though I hope you've had this targeting system properly calibrated. I don't relish calibrating it in the middle of a dogfight,"_ said a young man.

"Don't worry Knight Shakar, we won't be around long enough for them to even target us," she said reassuringly as she turned towards her co-pilot. "You ready Maris?"

The young zabrak girl nodded. "Yes master, all buttoned up tight," she said as she tugged on her crash webbing.

"Then let's get out of here," said Shaak Ti as she fired up the ship's thrusters and moved the ship out of hangar. They flew for a few minutes on a random vector, then she punched the engines and powered out of the atmosphere on a steep eighty degree angle. "Maris, watch those scopes for enemy ships and defence platforms," she curtly ordered as her senses went on high alert.

"Yes Master," she said as she focused on the scopes. "We've got several Golan I defence platforms in our path, but their hangar bay doors are closed," she reported confused.

"Keep an eye on them, but also keep an eye out for fighters, there are two Imperial warships in orbit with hangars full of them, as well as on those platforms," Shaak Ti reminded her young charge, who acknowledged her with a nod.

They were only seconds away from jumping into hyperspace when suddenly the ship began jolting violently and bright blue flashes lit up the cockpit. Shaak Ti put the ship into a violent set of manoeuvres that pushed them into their seats and strained their crash-webbing. Maris was terrified, but kept her eyes on the scopes. "I thought the inertial compensators cancelled out the G-forces," Maris bemoaned as she felt the effects on her body.

"I apologize my young apprentice, but I dialled down the compensators to get the proper feel, now please mind the scopes," she said sternly in afterthought as she pulled the ship into several more twists and turns, deftly avoiding shockwaves like an ace pilot. They were so close to exiting Naboo's gravity well, but these manoeuvres were delaying their jump, and it was taking every precious ounce of her ability as a pilot to avoid the explosions.

The hyperdrive readiness light continued to glow an angry red for several seconds longer, seconds that felt like years to her, until finally it turned green, and she quickly pulled the activation lever and the ship accelerated into the safety of hyperspace.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo, Theed**

**Palace corridors**

The four Jedi and one Naboo queen were running at full tilt through the corridors of the palace, being chased by Imperial Stormtroopers. All four Jedi, still in their Royal Guard uniforms, were shooting back with blasters. They were moving more as professional soldiers than Jedi, two provided cover fire while the other two covered the queen with hand-held gungan energy shields and kept moving forward, blasting anyone and anything in their path.

The queen was terrified, yet determined. She saw that they were heading towards the main hangar where a ship was waiting to take her to safety, away from her home and her people that she had served as leader for the last three years. Within her heart warm hatred for the Empire grew to an inferno, and she vowed to herself that she would return and rid them from her world.

After several more short gun battles and a lot of running they finally made it to the main hangar. Dozens of N1-starfighters were docked in their cradles along the walls, but there were no pilots to pilot them. They were all dead, shot or decapitated, and lying on the ground close to their ships, as if they had been running for them, but did not quite make it. In the middle of the hangar an old style J-type Naboo Royal Starship, plated in polished chromium, sat waiting to carry her away from this place. The only problem was a squad of twelve clone troopers clad in black armour, the ones who had obviously killed all of the pilots that had been trying to reach their ships.

The trooper in charge stepped forward. "Give up the queen, lieutenant, and I guarantee your lives."

"What makes you think we'll do that?" said the disguised Shysanar.

"Look around you, and see what we did to your pilots and soldiers, and they outnumbered us ten to one. What makes you think that four of you can take on twelve of us?" the trooper challenged.

"We are not what we seem," said Shysanar as he nodded to his fellows and they all dropped their blasters and drew lightsabres.

"Jedi," the lead trooper sneered and the squad discarded their blasters and unfurled their gauntlet mounted vibro-blades. The vibrations of their blades filled the room with an ominous sound to the queen's ears and their blades seemed to glow an ominous red.

Shysanar handed the queen his gungan energy shield. "This should protect you from any stray blaster fire, just try to stay out of the way."

She nodded and moved to a safe distance and picked up a blaster for herself as her four protectors took off their helmets and took up fighting stances. The twelve troopers began to surround them and took up their own fighting stance, Teras Kasi if she was not mistaken. The tension in the hangar was so thick you could cut it with a vibro-knife. As one four of the troopers attacked, then quickly retreated before the Jedi could counter-attack and another four attacked, forcing the Jedi on the defensive. The attacks, counter-attacks and retreats happened so fast Queen Apailana couldn't follow any of their moves. It all blended into a blur of afterimages and streaks of light.

The only thing she could follow was when one of the combatants fell. One by one the troopers slowly fell to the Jedi, all in close-quarters-combat with either a cauterized decapitation, deep cuts or several dismembered limbs, but even Jedi have their limits, as attested to by one of the Jedi falling with a vibro-blade in the back. A young human man she couldn't remember the name of. Now there were three, and they were beginning to look tired, yet still determined, while the troopers never even slowed down.

She caught the eye of one of the Jedi, Jessie, and she understood what she had to do. Keeping the shield facing the battle she slowly moved towards her ship, with her blaster trained on them, but dared not fire for fear of hitting one of her protectors. Her heart sank as another Jedi fell, another one she couldn't remember the name of, but who's face she would remember forever. The hand that held her liberated blaster violently shook with fear, but the other that held the gungan shield was still. For some reason its weight was comforting, but a wave of revulsion welled up within her for the cowardice she felt at simply holding a blaster and barely being able to hold onto it as she slowly moved towards the boarding ramp to her ship and her ticket off this planet.

Suddenly a shockwave emanated from the two Jedi, which scattered everything close by, including the seven remaining troopers who tumbled all over the place for several long seconds, giving the two Jedi a quick breather. With nothing more than a look Finn and Jessie made their choices. Jessie quickly stole a kiss from her long time friend and with a Force assisted burst of speed she grabbed Apailana and ran up the ramp into the ship.

Shysanar's short bout of shock at his friend's actions was short lived as he spotted two of the remaining troopers make a beeline towards the Naboo cruiser. With his own Force assisted leap he got behind them and made short work of them by shortening them by the length of their heads. He quickly took up a defensive position, a classic Soresu defensive stance, which to him symbolized everything the Jedi stood for. He gave the last five troopers a self satisfied smile, knowing he was fulfilling his role in life.

"You shall not pass!" he said defiantly as the ramp ascended and the ship's engines powered up for launch. His uniform had several deep gashes that penetrated deep into his own skin, and he was bleeding profusely from multiple lacerations.

"Then it shall be your death!" snarled the trooper in charge, his own armour sported multiple carbon-scoring cuts from lightsabre strikes, but none had cut deeply enough to cause him harm.

They attacked once again, all five from different angles, and Shysanar countered with swift, tight deflective strikes that turned his opponents blades away from him, and physically dodged the ones he could not. However he was not quick enough to completely avoid the last strike, by the leader no less, and got a deep cut along his left upper arm, which he quickly countered with his own counter attack, but the leader managed to dodge out of the way of most of his strike, but still got another cut to his armour.

With fluidity he switched targets and impaled another one of the troopers, who fell limply to the deck, but combat fatigue and injury was beginning to catch up to him. He knew he was slowing down further, but he could not let them board the queen's ship.

With a roar of ion-plasma jets the Naboo cruiser blasted off out of the hangar, and Finn Shysanar felt happiness once again for the first time ever since the invasion of the Jedi Temple. "Live well, Jessie Skyfall," he said quietly to himself as he gave into his instincts and redoubled his efforts to destroy the troopers, the ones he recognized as the same Clone Assassins who had murdered so many of his fellow Jedi in the temple, and gave into the Dark Side as he took pleasure in killing the last four in a single decapitating swipe as all four rushed forward and impaled him from four different sides.

He felt all four of the vibrating blades penetrate his body and tore his insides apart with their vibrations, which soon stopped as the assassins all dropped to the deck and their blades were pulled out as they fell. He stood there for a moment and his eyes flickered from glowing hellish yellow and red to his natural hazel eye-colour and turned slightly towards the exit, just as the sun began to rise above the horizon and his eyes returned to their natural colour.

He smiled as he took in the sight and silently fell, feeling himself drifting away into the Living Force and darkness took him.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**Naboo orbit**

**INS Retribution**

It was organized chaos that greeted the Commodore and his XO as they reached the bridge of the _Retribution_. In the centre of it all was Captain Bush who was taking in the reports from his subordinates and then barked out various instructions, while another gentleman, an officer in a white uniform, from time to time commented.

"Helm, maintain our position of geo-synchronous orbit above Theed," he ordered shortly then turned towards the white uniformed officer. "We don't have the acceleration needed to go after those light freighters, Major Valachian, so I would suggest you stop with your incessant whining!"

"But the Jedi are getting away. Lord Vader will be most displeased with you if they are allowed to escape!" said the now identified Imperial Security Bureau officer. "You do not want to disappoint Lord Vader now, do you?"

"I am a loyal servant of the Empire, and my orders were to establish a blockade, which would be a little simpler if this were a Venator class attack cruiser, fully equipped with hangars full of fighters, but the _Retribution_ is not. She is a Tector class battleship and as such is only equipped with a few personnel shuttles. The best we can do is maintain our position over Theed and prevent a direct escape out of the capital and vector in fighters from the _Exactor_ to intercept those ships that escape from the planet and shoot down anything that comes in range of the guns, missiles and torpedoes," he said with finality, which made the ISB officer glow red with anger.

"You dare speak to me like that again?"

"He does, Major, and I would suggest you let him get back to work," said Commodore Hawks, effectively announcing his presence on the bridge and made everyone stand to attention when a high strung lieutenant called out, "Commodore on the bridge!"

"As you were, people. Remember your duty!" Commodore Hawks replied then strode forward towards the two previously arguing officers, his XO following close behind.

"I see ISB is keeping my captain on his toes," he said, effectively taking the pressure of Captain Bush.

"Yes Commodore, I was just saying that we should move the ship itself to intercept and destroy those Jedi scum!" said the ISB officer with venom.

"Really? It seems that the gunners are doing a fine job in shooting down said Jedi scum," Commander Hess observed as a pair of light freighters were obliterated by laser cannon fire.

"Not nearly enough," the ISB officer grumbled.

From one of the crew-pit stations an ensign reported. "Sir, another ship is escaping the atmosphere. No IFF tags, but silhouette corresponds to an old J-type Naboo Royal Cruiser. She's out of range of our guns."

"Now there's a prize we should go after, captain. It's most likely the queen's personal starship. Destroying it might be in your best interest," said the ISB agent to the annoyance of everyone on the bridge.

Reluctantly Captain Bush gave the order. "Helm, intercept that Naboo ship, gunners lock on and destroy it!"

"Wait," Commodore Hawks called out. "If the queen's really on that ship, wouldn't it be better to capture her? I'm sure Lord Vader would appreciate at least someone to interrogate."

"And how do you suppose we're going to disable a ship that fragile?" the ISB agent arrogantly asked.

"Your ship carries ion shells for its flak batteries, doesn't it?" Commander Hess asked.

Captain Bush let a small smile slip. "Yes, we do. Gunners, load ion shells into all flak batteries. Disable that Naboo cruiser, helm move us into position!"

Affirmatives came quickly and the ship began moving to intercept. The ship's engines flared to life and burned with the brightness of a trio of stars. The hull strained against the gravity of Naboo as it gave chase after the Naboo cruiser, which began to weave and dodge as the _Retribution_ opened fire with three shots from one of the 6-inch guns. The shots missed by several kilometres when they were supposed to have detonated within a fifty metre radius of the target.

"Gunners what the hell happened?" demanded an incensed Captain Bush.

"We don't know, we're checking the scopes," said the senior sensor tech on duty.

"It's a diplomatic vessel. It shouldn't have any kind of defences except basic defensive deflector shields," said Major Valachian pompously.

"That's not just a diplomatic vessel, it's the queen's personal starship," said Commander Hess, which made the ISB Major round on her.

"And what do you know about Naboo Royal starships?"

"What anyone with half a brain knows. While they may have no weapons they do have an impressive ECM suite that is legendary for creating false images and fill enemy scopes with static," said Commander Hess calmly.

"She's right, sir. Scopes are being filled with heavy static and we're getting a number of false images. Targeting systems are unable to get a solid lock-on," reported the senior sensor tech, much to the annoyance of the Major.

"Blanket the area with rounds if you have to, I want that ship thoroughly disabled," Captain Bush commanded. "Communications, warn all fighter squadrons of the incoming fire and have them maintain their distance for now."

With that command multiple mass accelerator guns, both the 6-inch AV8s and the Quad-40s, opened up with a blistering volley of Ion-shells. Bright bursts of blue ionic pulses burned across space. The Naboo Cruiser began dodging and weaving even more erratically and boosted its engines to maximum burn. That proved to be its undoing because as soon as it boosted its engine its energy signature went way up and gave the gunners something concrete to lock onto. Within seconds the ship was bracketed by multiple Quad-40 rounds and a pair of 6-inch shells detonated only a few metres off its port and starboard which rendered the small craft completely powerless.

"Bring us into tractor beam range and get that ship onboard, then take us back to our blockade position as quickly as possible," ordered Captain Bush.

"I believe I'll head down to the hangar bay and greet our new guest," said Major Valachian with a sick little smile on his face as he ordered a squad of Stormtroopers to meet him in the hangar.

In the meantime down in the crew-pit Commander Hess was checking something that had escaped seemingly everyone's notice. The Golan II defence platforms. She waited until Major Valachian had left then called for both the Captain and Commodore's attention.

"Sirs, something's been bothering me for a while now. Why didn't the planetary defence platforms engage the escaping transports? They would have been easy targets for their fighters and the platforms own weapons the moment they escaped the atmosphere."

Captain Bush was slightly confused. "What do you mean? I thought Vader had simply not ordered them to engage the escaping Jedi?"

"That's what I thought too, but I just asked one of your officers to scan the closest platform and guess what we found out," she said as she moved aside slightly so that both the Captain and Commodore could see.

"It's completely powered down?" said a surprised Commodore Hawks.

"According to these readings they've been operating at minimal power ever since the break out and are only now powering up to normal levels," reported Commander Hess.

"Something tells me that not everything is as it seems," said Commodore Hawks.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

**INS Retribution**

**Hangar deck**

With the gait of a self-satisfied predator Major Valachian made his way over to the recently captured vessel with a full squad of Stormtroopers at his back. Techs were already lowering the main boarding ramp and were simply waiting for the Stormtroopers to get in and do their work. With a confident gesture the ISB Major sent his men into the Naboo ship and followed soon after, wanting to find the queen and her Jedi accomplices himself, but just as he was about to walk up he noticed something was missing.

"Tech, did anyone remove one of the escape pods?" the Major asked.

"The tech shook his head. "No sir, it came in just the way it is now."

Major Valachian stormed up the boarding ramp in a rage and went to find the lieutenant in charge of the squad he had appropriated to search the ship. "Have you found anyone onboard?"

"Not yet, but if there is someone onboard we'll find them, but sir I must report that one of the ship's escape pods have been jettisoned. They may have escaped the ship before it was disabled," the Stormtrooper lieutenant reported.

"I know that, I saw that one of them was missing before coming aboard. Lord Vader is not going to like this, but I might be able to salvage this debacle," said the Major with a cruel smirk. He stayed only long enough to confirm that the ship was empty, then headed straight back towards the command bridge.

He quickly arrived at the bridge to the scene of Lord Vader appearing as a blue tinted holo-transmission and was receiving a report from the Captain and Commodore.

"We have returned to our blockade position, but I regret to report that several transports were able to escape. However my techs have calculated all of their possible hyperspace courses along their last known trajectories," reported Captain Bush as he stood ramrod straight in front of the menacing form of the Sith Lord.

"_What was so important that you left your position?"_ Lord Vader demanded.

"We detected a Naboo royal transport escaping the atmosphere. We moved to intercept it before it could get out of the gravity well and disabled it. We've brought the ship onboard and Major Valachian and a squad of Stormtroopers have boarded the ship to bring in the prisoners," said Captain Bush. He noticed Major Valachian's reflection in the ship's forward viewports. "And here he is now. Report, Major!"

Major Valachian bowed deeply to Lord Vader. "My lord, I'm afraid the incompetence of both the Captain and Commodore has resulted in the failure to capture the queen and her Jedi bodyguard. There was no one aboard the Royal transport."

"_Incompetence, you say?"_ Lord Vader queried.

"Yes, I suggested that we destroy the vessel immediately, but the Commodore and Captain overruled me and decided to use ion-shells fired from the ships mass drivers, a relatively primitive and inaccurate weapon, to disable it. Especially since their targeting scopes were so badly obscured by..."

"_I believe I have heard enough. You were the one who suggested the _Retribution _leave its position and intercept that ship, and consequently allowed a number of Jedi to slip by while you were chasing a worthless ship. Report to my ship immediately, Major! You have interfered with a naval operation for the last time!"_ concluded the Sith Lord and Major Valachian's face became white as a sheet.

"Well, looks like you won't be with us any longer. Head to the shuttle bay Major. Your ship awaits," said Captain Bush with not a hint of emotion and the Major just numbly walked off the bridge, never to be seen again. "Good riddance to rotten garbage. Communications, have you been able to contact the defence platforms?"

"Yes sir. They report that someone managed to slice their way through the firewalls and implanted some kind of virus that shut them down for an hour. They have purged their computer systems of the virus, but they're still having problems getting full systems restored."

"The question now is 'who sabotaged the defence platforms?' I doubt there are that many slicers that could do it," Commander Hess commented.

"A mystery for someone else to solve. Besides I think, given enough time, we might just learn who did it," Commodore Hawks replied to his XO.

"Well, Commodore, it looks like your shore leave was a little more exciting than you expected," said Captain Bush.

"In more ways than one. There is only another day of shore leave left, and the crisis is over, I see no reason to overstay our welcome. Once Lord Vader's ship has vacated orbit set course back to Corellia. It's time we returned to our real job," said the Commodore in a tone of suggestion, but clearly still an order. An order that Captain Bush agreed with.

"Aye sir. Navigation, plot a hyperspace jump for the Corellian system. The fastest route possible if you please!" Captain Bush commanded as Commodore Hawks and Commander Hess left the bridge for their quarters.

* * *

**((((((((((The Dark Times))))))))))**

* * *

AN: This one took me a while to complete, and I hope you've enjoyed it. Please leave me a review and drop some constructive critique. Thank you.


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